OpenAI drops ChatGPT license fees for U.S. governments

OpenAI and the U.S. General Services Administration announced a multi-year agreement that waives the standard $15-per-user monthly ChatGPT license fee for eligible government organizations and cuts usage costs by 50%, with no minimum commitment. The deal runs 27 months, from October 1, 2026 through December 31, 2028, and extends for the first time beyond federal agencies to state, local, and tribal governments — a pool OpenAI puts at roughly 23 million public-sector workers. More than one million government employees already have ChatGPT access under existing agreements.

The agreement also bundles cyber-defense tooling. OpenAI says every verified government entity will be approved for Daybreak Blue, its cyber-defender model, at 50% off commercial pricing with training and enablement; agencies can separately request Daybreak Red for vulnerability research, exploit validation, and red teaming at standard pricing. That follows Daybreak for Frontline Defenders, announced last week with a $1 billion global commitment to subsidized access and support.

OpenAI cited self-reported agency results from the past year: the CDC producing most initial literature-review reports in under 30 minutes, with 92% of participating experts reporting productivity gains; Georgia's Department of Revenue cutting tax-form digitization from as much as two weeks to 15 minutes; and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory compressing preliminary fusion-model work from months to hours.

The company says ChatGPT Enterprise does not train on business inputs or outputs. Contract value, adoption targets, and agency-level commitments were not disclosed.