ChatGPT and Codex will share one usage limit starting in December
OpenAI says that starting in December, paying ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Business subscribers will draw from one token-based allowance across ChatGPT and Codex, its coding agent. Everyday Instant chats won't count against it, but OpenAI hasn't published the new limits.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
OpenAI updated its Help Center to say that, starting in December, the usage allowance on its Plus, Pro and Business plans "will be shared across ChatGPT and Codex as we bring the agentic capabilities of Work into the main ChatGPT experience." Codex is OpenAI's coding agent, and Work is the part of ChatGPT that carries out longer, multistep tasks such as research and building documents. Under the change, a long coding session in Codex and a demanding task in ChatGPT would draw down the same balance.
Why it matters
Paying subscribers who use both chat and coding tools now have to budget one pool instead of two. The change does not apply, for now, to Free, Go, Enterprise or Edu accounts, TechRepublic reported, since OpenAI has not announced it for those plans. OpenAI says it expects "most users won't need to wait for their usage to reset more often than they do now," but that is the company's projection, and it has not published numbers to check it against.
More context
How it will be measured: Usage will be counted in tokens, the small chunks of text a model reads and writes. "More advanced models and complex tasks generally use more of your allowance," OpenAI said, and it added that "Instant chat will not draw from your usage," which keeps ordinary quick questions outside the shared pool. Subscribers will see their combined remaining usage and reset times under Settings, then Usage. When they hit the limit, OpenAI says they can wait for a reset, upgrade their plan or buy credits.
Where limits stand today: OpenAI's pricing page gives Plus and standard Business users estimates per five-hour window that vary widely by model, for example 5 to 45 local messages with its top GPT-6 Astra model and 350 to 3,000 with the lighter GPT-6 Luna. Pro plans, sold at $100, $200 or $500 a month, currently have no five-hour limit, and weekly limits may also apply on all plans. Faster speed modes use the allowance faster: Fast mode counts 2.5 times as much as standard speed.
Timeline: Sept. 29, OpenAI reopens its $200 Pro plan to new subscribers and announces changes to included usage, including a cut for some existing Pro 200 subscribers. Oct. 29, after customer pushback, OpenAI doubles the Work and Codex allowance on its Pro 100 and Pro 500 plans and cancels the Pro 200 cut, according to its release notes and BleepingComputer. Nov. 1, OpenAI's Help Center adds the shared ChatGPT and Codex allowance starting in December.
What's still unknown: The exact start date in December, how big the new token allowance will be on each plan, whether the five-hour and weekly windows change, and whether Pro keeps its exemption from the five-hour limit. TechRepublic noted that OpenAI has not published numeric limits or reset schedules for the new system.
5 listed sources
- OpenAI Help Center, "Understanding ChatGPT and Codex usage limits," updated Nov. 1, 2026
- OpenAI, ChatGPT release notes (Oct. 29, 2026 entry)
- OpenAI, ChatGPT Work and Codex pricing documentation
- TechRepublic, Nov. 2, 2026
- BleepingComputer, Oct. 29, 2026
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
The plan details come from OpenAI's own Help Center and pricing pages. OpenAI has not given an exact December start date or the size of the new allowance for any plan, so this story will need an update when it does. The hero is a 2019 file photo of the Pioneer Building in San Francisco, which then housed OpenAI's offices.
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