I’ve been talking with a friend who doesn’t code but is raving about how the $200/month ChatGPT plan is a god-like experience.

I’m tech-literate but not a full-time developer (I did some data science years ago), and I’m more of moderate views about what these tools can actually do and where the real value lies.

Here’s my current take, based on my own use and what I’ve seen on forums: • People who don’t usually write code but are comfortable with tech: They get quick wins, they can suddenly spin up a landing page or a rough prototype. But the value seems to plateau fast. If you can’t judge whether the AI’s changes are good, or reason about the quality of its output, a $200/month plan doesn’t feel worthwhile. You can’t tell if the hours it spends coding are producing something solid. Short-term gains from tools like Cursor or Lovable are clear, but they taper off. • Experienced developers: I imagine the curve is different: since you can assess code quality and give meaningful guidance to the LLM, the benefits keep compounding over time and go deeper.

That’s where my understanding stops, so I am curious to hear from you.

Curious to hear how you see the value of those tools and specifically interested if you see the value in 200$ subscription: and if yes, what does it do for you that is a game changer ?