ChatGPT Plus is getting throttled again, and it’s apparently for your own good

OpenAI has announced it will once again impose a five-hour usage cap on ChatGPT Work and Codex for ChatGPT Plus subscribers starting August 25. This restriction had been temporarily lifted on July 12, allowing users to manage their overall weekly allowance instead. However, the change specifically pertains to compute-intensive Work and Codex experiences designed for handling extended projects.

OpenAI engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux provided two reasons for reinstating the limit. Firstly, spreading heavy usage over five-hour windows makes demand on OpenAI's computing infrastructure more predictable, enabling the company to maintain relatively generous weekly allowances. Secondly, Plus subscriptions cater to casual and newer users who may unintentionally consume a significant portion of their weekly quota during an extended session, leading to prolonged lockouts.

As a result, Plus subscribers will now have to watch out for two separate limits: the five-hour allowance and the weekly allocation. Users can purchase additional usage credits to bypass these restrictions temporarily. Notably, users with the $100 and $200 Pro subscriptions will continue to operate within their weekly allowances, exempt from the five-hour limit, as Sottiaux revealed on Twitter.

This decision aims to distinguish between Plus and Pro tier subscribers, particularly for those using ChatGPT as a serious work or coding tool. Despite briefly removing the restriction in July, it appears that the five-hour cap is set to remain in place for Plus subscribers.