❯ OpenAI Restores 5-Hour Codex Limit for ChatGPT Plus; Pro Tier Unaffected for Now

LIMITStarting August 25, OpenAI is restoring the 5-hour usage limit for ChatGPT Plus users on Codex and ChatGPT Work. The limit had been temporarily suspended over the past few weeks, leaving only the weekly cap in place. The $100 and $200 Pro tiers will remain unaffected for the next few months.

RATIONALEThe engineering leads for Codex and ChatGPT have publicly offered a two-part explanation. First, it smooths compute load, keeping weekly quotas generous. Second, Plus-tier users skew toward newcomers — without an hourly window, they can quietly burn through a week’s quota in two or three days, then end up confused. The weekly cap itself is unchanged; only the 5-hour rolling window has changed. Users still get the same 7-day quota — they just can’t use it all up two days early.

PRICINGThe real price of a large-model subscription isn’t on the price tag — it’s in the quota. The same Plus tier had its limit removed and restored within weeks, showing OpenAI is still using quota parameters to adjust compute supply and demand in real time. Developers buying compute by the hour should treat this as the norm: the pricing page stays the same, but the available quota can change at any moment.

▪ SIGNALSubscriptions are fixed while quotas float — AI services are effectively already priced like spot compute.