OpenAI drops ChatGPT text limits for free users
Get the Tech newsletter
Daily tech — startups, AI labs, chips, the launches that shape the next decade. Free.
- OpenAI is eliminating text rate limits for ChatGPT free and Go tier users starting next week, though messages containing file uploads and images will retain their existing limits.
- Free and Go users are receiving a new "Think" button next week to access higher reasoning for harder questions.
- ChatGPT's default model for free and Go tiers is being upgraded to the recently released GPT-5.6 Luna this week.
- GPT-5.6 Sol is being updated for Plus and Pro subscribers to reduce mistakes on dates, numbers, sources, rules, and assumptions, and to deliver more direct responses with tighter formatting — available starting Thursday.
- Plus and Pro subscribers are also getting a new slider to control "how much thought ChatGPT puts into an answer," launching the same day.
Why it matters: Text rate limits were the most visible friction point pushing free users toward a paid upgrade; removing them narrows the practical gap between tiers. OpenAI is simultaneously sharpening the paid proposition with the GPT-5.6 Sol accuracy refresh and a user-controlled reasoning slider, attempting to justify the Plus/Pro premium even as the free tier becomes more capable.
