ChatGPT free tier: quotas, limits and gotchas
ChatGPT Free Tier
Last verified: 2026-09-08
Models and quotas
| Model | Quota | Window | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.3 | About 10 items | every 5 hours | The quota is automatically downgraded to a smaller model when it is used up, rather than being completely unusable. |
| GPT-4 mini (downgraded) | No clear upper limit | — | Default model after quota is used up |
What you get for free
| Feature | Free tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Image generation | about 2-3 per day | The actual number of instances will fluctuate based on server load. |
| File upload | 3 files per day | |
| Context length | 16K | The paid version is longer |
| Voice chat | Available (Standard) | Advanced voice features require a fee |
Limits at a glance
- Quota reset: Rolling calculation, not resetting to zero at midnight every day - after using it up, you need to wait for 5 hours for the message to slowly release the quota
- Commercial use: Allowed
- Conditions: Registration is required; if personalized ads are turned off in settings, the quota will be further reduced to around 5 instances on an ongoing basis. Each entry displays its last verification date
Watch out for this
The easiest pitfall to encounter with the free version: it suddenly downgrades to a smaller model halfway through use, with a noticeable decline in response quality, but the interface doesn't explicitly state this.
When the free quota is insufficient, how much does it cost to pay for it?
| Plan | pricing | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Go | US$8 / mo | Only adds capacity, not features. | 🇹🇼 Actual Taiwan list price NT$270/month (read directly from the Traditional Chinese official site via a Taiwan connection on 2026-08-09, not a USD exchange-rate conversion, logged separately per rule 10.5). |
| Plus | US$20 / mo | | 🇹🇼 Actual Taiwan list price NT$690/month (checked 2026-08-09 via a Taiwan connection reading the official Traditional Chinese site directly — not a USD exchange-rate conversion, recorded separately per 10.5) |
| Pro | US$100 / mo | A third-party source mentioned that a lower-tier Pro plan was added in April 2026, but this has not been directly confirmed on the official website; ⚠️as of 2026-07-26, the official website agent (r.jina.ai) shows the official description as a single "Pro: From US$100/month, 5x or 20x more usage", without any mention of "Pro Max", and it remains to be manually reviewed whether this Pro/Pro Max two-tier model should be merged into a single Pro plan (with 5x/20x usage options) ｜🇹🇼 The actual price in Taiwan is NT$3300/month (as of 2026-08-09, directly read from the official website's Traditional Chinese version in Taiwan, not converted from USD, recorded with a decimal point of 10.5) |
| Pro Max | US$200 / mo | The original database's US$200 Pro plan currently coexists with a lower-level Pro plan (from a third-party source, not directly confirmed on the official website); ⚠️as of 2026-07-26, the official website's proxy capture did not show "Pro Max" as an official name, possibly fabricated by a third party or actually referring to the 20x usage option of the Pro plan, pending manual review |
| Business | US$25 / user / mo（5 user ≈ US$125/mo） | Self-serve enterprise plan, per user/month (from third-party sources, not directly confirmed on the official website); as of 2026-07-26, a secondary source (help.openai.com summary) states that the actual price is US$20/person/month billed annually or US$25/person/month billed monthly (with a minimum of 2 people), not directly confirmed on the official website |
Checked 2026-09-08
Information for Taiwanese users
- Payment method:Credit cards accepted; the Taiwan official site now prices in NT$, Plus at NT$690/month, the same as the App Store in-app purchase price (verified 2026-08-12) — there's no such thing as "in-app purchases being more expensive."
- Chinese support: full
- Available platforms:web
Related
Sources: ChatGPT Usage Limitations Summary (2026) · Free version test with 847 messages
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