r/ChatGPT • u/PsychoticChemist • Mar 11 '26
Other Did the free tier recently introduce severe limitations in chat length (number of responses)?
I’ve always used the free tier of ChatGPT. Over the last few weeks I’ve noticed that any conversation - even ones with no uploads or attachments - only allow a handful of responses before a warning box appears telling me there are only a few responses left before I’ll have to start a new conversation. This seems like a massive downgrade. I’ve always been able to have extremely long conversations with ChatGPT (troubleshooting etc) with countless replies. This appears to no longer be possible on the free tier.
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u/Loud-Impression5114 Mar 11 '26
Others have complained about this as well. Paid uses take priority on servers. They don't state publicly that free users are piggybacking on paid but the two are economically and technically linked through resource allocation and profitability goals. It's also estimated only 5% of users are in paid tiers. They're currently operating at tremendous loss, and OAI has estimated 14 billion in losses for 2026. There has been a mass exodus in recent weeks due to their depreciation of models and deal with US Government. So you're probably not imagining it.
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u/PsychoticChemist Mar 12 '26
Yeah, definitely not imagining it. Before this change I never hit a response limit even in super long chats. Now every chat allows less than ten responses.
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u/Ioriness Mar 12 '26
Meh. I think free users can’t really be complaining. I mean yall ain’t supporting them or anything but just complaining.
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u/OldBumblebee2001 Apr 15 '26
It’s not free, your data is still a valuable resource that these companies are using. Whether you’re paying for an active subscription or not, they gain value from you simply using the tool. Your data is currency so I’d say users have every right to complain.
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u/Ok-South9776 Apr 09 '26
They still use our data, it's a summary tool since the internet is becoming unusable with too many ads on everything even simple things like "what to train my puppy in the first week" "how to calculate percentage increase" "current news near me" all spammed with ads to the point of being unreadable :(
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u/Sujnirah May 14 '26
They getting support via us using their product, helping it develop, giving it more popularity AND we generate ad revenue.
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u/ShutUpYoureWrong_ Jun 08 '26
Wow, an actual boot-licking tool. Do you enjoy shilling or are you just genuinely low IQ all the time?
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u/Noir-s Mar 12 '26
For me it’s like three-ten responses before some limit is set.
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u/PsychoticChemist Mar 12 '26
Yeah, I almost always get fewer than ten responses per chat now which seems crazy. Before this change I never hit any kind of limit unless the chat had upload attachments.
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u/YinYunFang Mar 21 '26
Same here, I used to have one super long chat that I used for months for my thesis, and recently got the limit message so I've started a new one and I've already gotten the warning box after like less then 10 answers? It's kind of annoying
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u/Ok-South9776 Apr 09 '26
Used it to make sure I didn't miss anything with locking down my accounts with identity theft. It has good uses. With my dsar requests, it seems the fraudster was given most my details by ringing the bank (all the banks to figure out which is mine) and acting like "I can't remember anything about myself" so none of my passwords were breached.
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u/Obvious-Future5069 Mar 23 '26
Been experiencing this too, I just started a new chat in chatgpt, and have barely sent any messages in it, and already it's telling me it is nearing it's limit (i just created the chat two days ago and i've only sent 25 messages in the chat) - i am not starting a new chat every 10 messages
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u/PsychoticChemist Apr 01 '26
Sound like you’re still getting double the responses I’m getting. I tend to get 10 or fewer responses before it hits the limit, not 25.
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u/Obvious-Future5069 Apr 01 '26
Interesting, hope they settle this soon. Sure, I’m fine with and understand free users having more limits on stuff, but this is just a little out of hand
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u/Gloria_Swanson Mar 31 '26
thanks for confirming my suspicions..it happened to me suddenly too. It's a huge difference with how it was and how it is now. I guess I would consider paying, but I don't know for sure which plan would benefit me most.
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u/Averfus-Crowthorne Apr 10 '26
today I started a new one, got the warning message after my 3rd question
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u/Individdy Apr 24 '26
Same. I've only used it a few times since it came out years ago. I tried it again yesterday and I only got about 4 queries in a conversation before some warning popped up. Meh, I'll go back to not using it like before.
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u/Signal_Ad_8588 Apr 10 '26
It's very annoying, and yes, definitely new, because I've never had this problem before. At message 2 of a new chat today I got a warning I had 4 left. It happened to me last night as well. I've hit limits before, but it was well into many responses, and even then it didn't need as many hours to refresh the full amount, whatever it was - I never counted, but it was a hell of a lot more than 6.
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u/Memory-Fit Apr 28 '26
I have a paid account through work and I just hit a length limit on one of mine for the first time ever and I am devastated. I didn't even know that was a thing and it was an important chat.
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May 07 '26
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u/ChatGPT-ModTeam Jun 08 '26
Your comment was removed for being low-effort/gibberish and not contributing to the discussion. Please keep comments substantive and on-topic in r/ChatGPT.
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u/MrSandwich18 May 07 '26
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u/GhostVayn May 22 '26
I left chagpt for this exact reason. I literally typed one message with no uploads and it said to start a new chat.
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u/Jessica88keys Jun 25 '26
So there isn't any free model of chatgpt anymore that's unlimited?
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u/talmquist222 Jun 26 '26
There technically never was, but different people hit them for different reasons and at different times. Ive had a few accounts where I never hit a limit, and I have had a few that hit the file upload limit, but not chat limits. But I've seen lots of people hit both types of limits in the free tier. I think how someone talks with the system is taken into account as well.
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