ChatGPT usage limits to merge with Codex in December

OpenAI is changing how usage limits work in ChatGPT and Codex. Starting in December, Plus, Pro and Business subscribers will get one shared usage allowance that covers both ChatGPT and Codex, instead of tracking the two separately.

OpenAI explains the change in a new help center article, and its Business pricing page now carries the same notice: "Starting in December, plan usage will have a shared limit across all of ChatGPT and Codex." Here is what is changing, who it affects, what OpenAI hasn't said yet, and how to keep an eye on your own limits.

What is changing in December

According to OpenAI's help center, the shared allowance is part of a wider shift, "as we bring the agentic capabilities of Work into the main ChatGPT experience." Work is the mode in ChatGPT that handles longer, multi-step tasks, and Codex is OpenAI's coding agent. From December, both will draw from the same pool of usage on your plan.

Usage will also be measured differently. OpenAI says ChatGPT and Codex usage will be counted in tokens, the small chunks of text a model reads and writes. How much of your allowance a request uses will depend on the model you pick and the task you give it, and more advanced models and complex tasks will generally use more.

There is one big exception. OpenAI says Instant chat will not draw from your usage at all, so quick everyday questions answered by the fast model won't eat into the allowance you need for heavier work.

Which ChatGPT plans are affected

OpenAI names three plans: Plus, Pro and Business. Plus costs $20 a month. Pro comes in three tiers, Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500, priced at $100, $200 and $500 a month. Business is sold per seat to teams of 2 to 200 people, with a Standard seat at $20 a month billed annually or $25 monthly, and a Premium seat at $100 a month billed annually or $125 monthly.

The announcement does not mention the Free, Go, Enterprise or Edu plans, and reports from TechRepublic and others also note they aren't part of it. If you are on one of those plans, nothing has been announced for you yet.

What OpenAI hasn't said yet

OpenAI has not given an exact December date. It also hasn't published how many tokens each plan will get, or said whether the current five-hour and weekly limit windows will stay the same once usage is combined.

What OpenAI does say is that it is "preparing carefully for this transition" and that "we expect most users won't need to wait for their usage to reset more often than they do now." That is an expectation, not a guarantee, so people who use Codex heavily and also lean on ChatGPT for long tasks should watch their usage closely once the change arrives.

How ChatGPT and Codex usage limits work today

Right now, Codex has its own limits. OpenAI's Codex pricing page gives rough ranges for how many messages Plus and Business Standard users can send every five hours, and they vary a lot by model. For example, it lists about 15 to 160 messages for GPT-6.1 Sol and about 350 to 3,000 for the lighter GPT-6 Luna, and warns that weekly limits may also apply. In the Codex command line tool, you can type /status to check where you stand.

Pro users already had a change last week. On October 29, OpenAI doubled usage for the Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 tiers and Business Premium. OpenAI's Tibo announced it on X, writing: "We are doubling all usage limits for all Pro 100/200/500 tiers and Business Premium, effective today." BleepingComputer reported the move the same day. OpenAI also cancelled a cut to the Pro 200 allowance it had announced in a September 29 email. Plus usage was not changed.

Faster modes also cost more. OpenAI's help center says Fast mode uses your allowance at 2.5 times the normal rate, and Ultrafast, which is only available on Pro 500, uses it at 8 times the rate.

How to check your usage and what happens at the limit

Once the change arrives, OpenAI says you will be able to see your combined remaining usage and reset times in ChatGPT under Settings, then Usage.

If you hit your limit, OpenAI gives three options: wait for your usage to reset, upgrade your plan, or buy credits to keep using eligible features. OpenAI's help center says credits work in Codex, ChatGPT Work and the Word, Excel and PowerPoint integrations. It also says OpenAI support can't reset usage limits for you.

What this means for you

If you mostly use ChatGPT for quick questions with Instant, this change should barely touch you, because Instant chat won't count against the allowance.

If you use both ChatGPT Work and Codex on the same plan, the change matters more. Today a heavy coding session in Codex doesn't affect your ChatGPT usage, and from December it will. Choosing lighter models for simple tasks and saving the most advanced models for hard problems will help your allowance last longer.

Other AI companies are reworking their plans too. Anthropic recently renamed its top Claude plan to Ultra and removed the five-hour limit for verified accounts, and Google changed which Gemini models free users get.

Top photo: a smartphone showing the ChatGPT app in front of a laptop. (File photo: Jernej Furman / CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)