OpenAI is restoring a five-hour usage limit for ChatGPT Plus subscribers using Codex and ChatGPT Work, reversing a temporary policy that had allowed users to rely solely on a weekly usage cap.
The change was announced on August 24, 2026, by Thibault “Tibo” Sottiaux, OpenAI's engineering lead for Codex and ChatGPT, and is scheduled to take effect on August 25.
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The five-hour cap had been temporarily removed for several weeks, during which Plus users were subject only to a weekly limit. OpenAI said the five-hour restriction is being reinstated to help manage computing demand while allowing the company to maintain generous overall weekly usage limits.
Sottiaux also said the measure is intended to improve the user experience by preventing casual or newer Plus subscribers from unintentionally consuming their entire weekly allowance during a single extended session and then being surprised when they encounter a usage restriction, according to 9to5mac report.
Once users reach either the five-hour or weekly limit, they will have the option to wait until their allowance resets or purchase additional usage credits. OpenAI may also occasionally provide free resets, while promotional and referral programmes can offer additional banked resets.
The restored five-hour limit will not apply to OpenAI's Pro subscriptions priced at $100 and $200 per month, which are expected to remain without the restriction for the coming months.
There will also be no change to Enterprise and Edu accounts, which operate under a separate credit-based usage system.
The policy change follows a period in which OpenAI temporarily reset weekly limits on several occasions. Those resets came amid increased usage of the unified Codex and ChatGPT Work platforms, which had recently reached another milestone of one million active users.
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OpenAI's decision therefore represents a return to its earlier usage structure for Plus subscribers, balancing access to Codex and ChatGPT Work with the need to manage computing resources and prevent users from rapidly exhausting their weekly allowances.
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