Short answer: if you are sure you will use a service for the next twelve months, annual billing is cheaper, usually by a bit more than two months, and on a Pink Card it also saves 11 of the $1 per-transaction fees and a few top-ups. If you are only trying a tool or need it for a short project, pay monthly. Before you switch to annual, do three things: load the full annual price plus $1 onto the card in one go, check how long the card is still valid, and check whether the annual plan can be refunded.
Written by the Pink Card team (pinkcard.cc). Prices come from each provider’s official pricing page or help center, checked on 2026-10-21, before tax. A few official pages would not load for us; for those we used the official text shown in search results and say so below. Prices change, so the checkout page is what counts. Charge data comes from our own cards from 2026-07-23 to 2026-10-21 (the last 90 days); fees are the live settings on 2026-10-21. Pink Card is not affiliated with any of the services mentioned.
Who offers annual billing, and at what price
- Claude Pro: $20 a month, or $200 a year paid up front. The official pricing page says "$200 billed up front" and quotes it as $17 a month.
- Claude Max: from $100 a month (5x $100, 20x $200). The official pricing page says both options are billed monthly, so there is no annual plan.
- ChatGPT Plus / Pro: when we checked, the personal plans were monthly only (Plus is $20 a month); annual billing was only offered on Business. The OpenAI pricing page did not load for us, so this is from search results.
- Google AI Pro (Gemini): $19.99 a month in the US. The Google One help center says an annual option exists; the $199.99 annual price comes from news coverage, so check what your account shows.
- Midjourney: Basic / Standard / Pro / Mega cost $10 / $30 / $60 / $120 a month, or $96 / $288 / $576 / $1,152 a year, 20% off (the official help page did not load for us; from search results).
- Perplexity Pro: $20 a month or $200 a year.
- GitHub Copilot: the official docs say billing moved to usage-based pricing on 2026-06-01, and new users can no longer buy an annual plan; the old $100-a-year plan is only kept for existing annual subscribers.
- Cursor: the pricing page changed its plans recently and we did not see an annual toggle when we checked. See cursor.com/pricing.
Worked example: one year of Claude Pro
Pink Card fees: $1 per transaction, $2.50 a month, and each top-up costs $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5). The example assumes you already have a card and refill it with top-ups.
- Monthly: each month the card pays $20 + $1 fee + $2.50 monthly fee = $23.50, or $282 a year. Three $100 top-ups cost $110.25 each ($5 + 5% × $105 = $10.25 in fees), $330.75 in total, and $18 is left on the card at the end of the year.
- Annual: one charge of $200 + $1 = $201, plus 12 monthly fees of $2.50 = $30, or $231 a year. One $240 top-up before the renewal costs $240 + $5 + 5% × $245 = $257.25, and $9 is left at the end of the year.
- Difference: $73.50 less on annual billing ($330.75 vs $257.25). $40 of that is Claude’s annual discount, $11 is the 11 transaction fees you skip, $13.50 is lower top-up fees ($30.75 for three top-ups vs $17.25 for one), and $9 is the smaller balance left over.
- Midjourney Basic: monthly billing takes 12 × ($10 + $1 + $2.50) = $162 off the card in a year; annual billing takes $96 + $1 + $30 = $127, $35 less.
- No card yet and want to pay Claude Pro yearly: choose a custom $220 card. The card fee and service fee are $10 + 3% of ($220 + $10), $236.90 in total. After the $201 charge, $19 is left, enough for 7 monthly fees.
Four things to check before paying yearly
1. One large charge is declined if the balance is even slightly short
- Charges of $150 or more on our cards in the last 90 days: 47 succeeded (34 cards) and 59 were declined (15 cards). 37 of the declines were limit or balance declines ("maximum single transaction value" or "cumulative amount limit") and 14 were on cards that had already been closed.
- Most successful large charges were OpenAI (23) and Anthropic (17, $200–$220; Claude Pro annual and Claude Max 20x monthly are both $200, so with tax they look the same).
- Before the annual charge, load more than the annual price + tax + $1. Each declined charge also costs $1 (at most 3 a month per card), so top up first instead of retrying.
2. Our cards are valid for about a year
- Our cards expire about 11–12 months after issue: cards issued in October 2026 expire in October 2027, and some issued in July 2026 expire in June 2027. The expiry date is in your card email.
- The next annual renewal is 12 months away, so the card may have expired by then and the renewal will fail. Set a reminder to put a valid card on the subscription before the card expires.
- Monthly plans are not affected as long as you switch cards before expiry.
3. Annual plans are rarely refundable
- Claude: the help center says "Payments are generally non-refundable", except where local law requires otherwise (for example within 14 days in the EU and UK).
- Perplexity: the help center says annual plans can get a full refund within 72 hours of purchase; monthly plans within 24 hours.
- Midjourney: refunds only if the account has used less than 20 GPU minutes in total (from search results).
- If you are not sure you will use it for a year, pay monthly for two or three months first, then switch.
4. Top up once, on the right network
Load the full annual amount in one top-up rather than several small ones, so you pay the $5 top-up fee once. Send exactly the amount shown on exactly the network you picked: USDT on BEP-20 (BSC) or ERC-20, USDC on ERC-20 only.
How to decide
- Check whether the service sells annual plans at all. ChatGPT personal plans, Claude Max and GitHub Copilot (new users) do not.
- Sure you will use it for a year, and the card is valid for about 12 more months (or you will switch cards before it expires): pay yearly.
- Trying it out, a one- or two-month project, or switching between tools: pay monthly and cancel any time.
- Paying yearly: load the card fully before the charge (annual price + tax + $1, plus a few months of the $2.50 fee) and pay in one go.
Top up the same card with USDT or USDC
- Open pinkcard.cc/en, click "Balance & Top Up" at the top, and enter the 16-digit card number and the 3-digit lookup code.
- Choose an amount (minimum $30; for Claude Pro annual, $240) and pick USDT or USDC.
- Wait until the page shows the top-up has arrived on the card, usually within about 30 minutes. The card number does not change, so subscriptions keep billing the same card. Then switch the plan to annual.
- Top-up cost: $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5). A $240 top-up is $257.25 in total; $100 is $110.25.
Already have a Pink Card? Enter the card number and lookup code and top up this card now ($240 prefilled, you can change it)
Pink Card fees (as of 2026-10-21)
- Card issuance: $10 one-time, plus a 3% service fee on (card amount + $10). Presets start at $110; custom amounts from $100. A $110 card is $123.60 in total; a $220 card is $236.90.
- From the card balance after activation: $1 per transaction and $2.50 per month.
- Failed authorizations are charged $1 too (at most 3 failed charges per card per month).
- Top-up of the same card: $5 plus 5% of (top-up amount + $5), minimum top-up $30, usually on the card within about 30 minutes; the card number does not change. Full fee table: pinkcard.cc/en/fees.
- Pay for a new card or a top-up with USDT (BEP-20 or ERC-20) or USDC (ERC-20).
Several subscriptions on one card? How much balance to keep: One virtual card for multiple AI subscriptions
Balance about to run out? What happens at $0 and the 7-day grace period: What happens when your prepaid virtual card runs out of balance
Claude Pro renewal already failed? See: Claude Pro renewal failed
Chinese version (中文版，付款方式按中文站): AI 订阅年付还是月付划算