OpenAI drops ChatGPT rate limits for free users
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- OpenAI will lift rate limits on text chats for ChatGPT free and Go tier users starting next week, though messages with file uploads and images remain rate-limited.
- OpenAI is adding a "Think" button for free and Go users next week to access higher reasoning for harder questions.
- OpenAI is upgrading the default ChatGPT model for free and Go users to the recently released GPT-5.6 Luna this week.
- GPT-5.6 Sol is being updated for Plus and Pro subscribers to be "more reliable with facts," with better handling of dates, numbers, sources, rules, and assumptions, per OpenAI.
- OpenAI says the updated GPT-5.6 Sol will deliver "more direct responses" with "tighter formatting" and will avoid extra detail when it does not help.
- Plus and Pro subscribers gain a new slider to control "how much thought ChatGPT puts into an answer," available Thursday alongside the updated GPT-5.6 Sol.
Why it matters: Removing text rate limits turns ChatGPT's free tier into a genuinely usable product for text-only workflows, eroding one of the last meaningful paywall triggers. The GPT-5.6 Sol factuality overhaul and reasoning slider, meanwhile, give Plus and Pro subscribers finer control over answer depth and reliability — a response to persistent user complaints about hallucination and verbosity.
