Good news for free ChatGPT users: no more restrictions
The new button
The new button. Photo: OpenAI
If you have ever had an especially long chat with ChatGPT and suddenly encountered a message blocking you and asking you to wait a few hours, OpenAI has interesting news for you. Starting next week, OpenAI is completely removing the message limit for free users and Go subscribers, as long as it concerns text-only prompts. In other words, from now on you can chat with the chatbot as much as you want without fear that it will stop you in the middle of a process, coding, or consultation.
New button
This move comes alongside an upgrade to the engine that powers free accounts: OpenAI is making GPT-5.6 Luna the new default model for these users, replacing GPT-5.5 Instant, which has served them since last May. This is the most compact model in the new family, and it now includes a new "Think" button that allows you to request additional time from the model for processing and analyzing information (the reasoning process) before it outputs the answer. Using this button will also be free in text chats, but take note: if you upload files or images, the system will still include separate quotas and restrictions.
In other words, chatting is free, but advanced features like image generation, analysis of attached files, or ChatGPT's upgraded voice mode are still subject to clear usage limits even after the update.
Paying users are not left behind either
Users paying for Plus and Pro plans are not left behind either. The company is updating the flagship model GPT-5.6 Sol to be more suitable for daily, ongoing conversations, to avoid unnecessary actions, and to offer substantive corrections instead of trying to please you and blindly agreeing with users. In addition, paying subscribers will receive a new slider that is somewhat reminiscent of Claude's effort menu, allowing control over the depth level of the answers.
You look familiar? Photo: OpenAI
Removing the restrictions in text chats is an interesting milestone in terms of infrastructure costs as well. These restrictions usually reflect Inference costs, meaning the price that AI companies pay for processing data in real-time. Recent reports (for example, in The Information) hinted at a mysterious breakthrough in the efficiency of the process, which allows companies to dramatically lower the cost of running the models. OpenAI stated that the update is intended to make the latest models accessible to a wide audience, improve the reliability of the model's answers, and allow users to use the model without a glass ceiling of usage restrictions.
Paying subscribers are expected to see the upgrades in the immediate timeframe, while the changes to the free plans are expected to arrive in the coming week.
The post "Good news for free ChatGPT users: no more restrictions" first appeared on Geektime.
