How to Register for ChatGPT: Complete Step-by-Step Guide (2026)
Contents:
- Step 1. Prepare a Free Proton Email
- Step 2. Open the ChatGPT Website
- Step 3. Enter Your Email Address
- Step 4. Complete Email Verification
- Step 5. Enter the ChatGPT Chat Interface
- FAQ
- Final Thoughts
Step 1. Prepare a Free Proton Email
Before registering ChatGPT, the most important thing is to have an email that can receive international mail. OpenAI needs email verification, and many Chinese mailboxes (QQ, 163) often miss the verification email or get flagged as low-quality accounts.
We recommend a free Proton mailbox — no phone number required, Chinese interface included, and ready in about ten minutes. Detailed step-by-step screenshots:
👉 Free Overseas Email with Proton (No Phone Number)
Once your mailbox is ready, let's create your OpenAI account.
Step 2. Open the ChatGPT Website
Enter the address in your browser to open the ChatGPT website, then click Sign up (free) in the top-right corner.
🌐 Network requirement: You must use an overseas IP (we strongly recommend a Los Angeles or Silicon Valley node in the US). Do not use Hong Kong or Taiwan nodes, or you'll get a "region not available" error.
Step 3. Enter Your Email Address
In the sign-up box, enter the proton.me address you created in Step 1:
Step 4. Complete Email Verification
After you submit the registration, OpenAI sends a verification email to your proton.me address.
✅ Pro tips for passing verification:
- If you don't see the email in your inbox, check your spam folder (Spam).
- The verification link expires — enter the code within 30 minutes of receiving the email.
- Set your name and age (must be 18 or older).
- Key detail: when you click the verification link, make sure your current network IP is the same as the one you used at sign-up. Don't switch nodes halfway.
💡 Common verification issues and fixes:
- Verification keeps spinning / fails to load: usually the node latency is too high — switch to another clean overseas IP and refresh.
- Repeated failures: clear your browser's cookies and cache, or retry with Edge/Firefox.
- Last resort: stuck on desktop? Open a phone browser over the same overseas network and do the CAPTCHA there — success rates are often higher.
Step 5. Enter the ChatGPT Chat Interface
When you see the "You're all set" page, registration is successful.
Send a quick first message.
Congratulations! Your ChatGPT account registration is complete.
FAQ
Q1: Do I still need an overseas phone number to register ChatGPT in 2026? A: OpenAI has relaxed most regular sign-ups. As long as your network (IP address) is clean and you use a quality international mailbox like proton.me or Gmail, you can usually register directly without a phone number by following this guide.
Q2: What email do I need? What if I don't have an overseas mailbox? A: Use Proton's free overseas mailbox (no phone number) — no phone required, Chinese interface, ready in about ten minutes. Once it's set up, use it to apply for your ChatGPT account.
Q3: What should I do when it says "OpenAI's services are not available in your country"? A: This is the most common region-block error. It means OpenAI has flagged your current IP as an unsupported region (such as mainland China or Hong Kong). Clean your browser cache, switch to a high-quality US or European node, and try again.
Q4: What's the difference between ChatGPT Free and Plus? A: A new free account gets the base GPT model by default, which covers everyday chat, translation and text writing. If you want advanced reasoning, data analysis, image generation and faster responses, you can upgrade to ChatGPT Plus later.
Pros and Cons
Advantages of this "Proton email + clean network" approach
- No phone number: zero SMS verification from start to finish, a much lower barrier
- Low cost: Proton's free mailbox is all you need, ready in ten minutes
- Reusable: with an OpenAI account you can also sign in to Claude, Grok and other overseas services
Limitations / things to note
- Highly dependent on your network: a dirty IP almost guarantees failure, and you need a stable overseas node
- Verification expires: the link is only valid for 30 minutes, and you'll have to start over if you miss it
- Region limits: Hong Kong and Taiwan nodes are flagged as unsupported — switch to US or European nodes
Who It's For
- Mainland users registering ChatGPT for the first time without an overseas phone number
- Regular users who want to unlock the full ChatGPT / OpenAI suite
- Beginners who want to set up both a Proton mailbox and an OpenAI account in one go
Final Thoughts
The bottleneck when registering ChatGPT usually isn't the operations — it's the email and the network. Get a free Proton mailbox ready first (no phone number needed), keep your IP clean and stable, and you'll usually pass on the first try.
Once you have an account, your ChatGPT journey is just beginning. To keep unlocking more capabilities and services, keep reading the articles below.
Need Codex? Check the Codex top-up page for supported plans, payment methods, and delivery.
About the Author
UPGPTs Team creates step-by-step, screenshot-heavy tutorials for AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok and Codex. Find more in the UPGPTs Tutorial Hub, check the FAQ, or reach us via the Contact page.