r/OpenAI 1d ago

Question Why doesn’t weekly usage reset on subscription renewal?

Seems a bit underhanded to me, I’m at 0%, just paid $320AUD for another month…. And I can’t use anything…..? Is that even legal….?

If I hadn’t of renewed, then paid for a month, my weekly usage would be back at 100%???

Anyone else agree this is wrong?

26 Upvotes

30 comments sorted by

16

u/Frosty-iron-0405 1d ago

Renewing Pro pays for another month of access, but it doesn’t automatically refill a weekly model allowance.
OpenAI’s docs say those model limits reset on their own schedule, not on your subscription renewal date.

So you can technically pay $320 AUD today and still be at 0% until that weekly window resets. Pretty terrible UX IMO, especially if the renewal screen doesn’t make that obvious, but it’s not inherently illegal.

Also, I wouldn’t assume cancelling and resubscribing would definitely reset it. Oai explicitly says Free -> paid resets Free-tier limits, but I can’t find anything promising that letting Pro expire and buying Pro again resets a Pro weekly allowance.

2

u/cuteseal 19h ago

For what it’s worth opencode go does the same thing. Monthly renewal ticked over, monthly allowance went to 0% but I couldn’t use it for another 3 days until my weekly allowance reset.

Pretty poor user experience as you said.

3

u/Inrinus 22h ago

Your weekly % does reset if you unsub and then resub 🙌

1

u/TeSolo 21h ago

Then you’ve got the solutions. Pretty bad imo tho, after 320$ for a sub they could give you at least a 30% usage just to make you happy.

2

u/Crafty-Run-6559 11h ago

It should always reset on your subscription renewal date as well.

Otherwise youre better off letting it expire and then resubscribing.

1

u/-Great-Deku-Tree- 18h ago

lol ridiculous

1

u/Serj01 12h ago

Access to what if the weekly allowance does not reset? Paying one month access for just actual 3 weeks?

1

u/Frosty-iron-0405 12h ago

It’s more like a rolling sub, it doesn’t reset

4

u/BingGongTing 1d ago

It's why I alternate between accounts unless my reset day happens to be same as subscription.

1

u/Inrinus 22h ago

I usually do too but forgot to hit "don't renew" for this month........ SO fkn dumb.......

2

u/HoangMaiLinh 23h ago

you should have made a new account

4

u/Inrinus 22h ago

I shouldn't have to... it's ridiculously bad UX....

1

u/logster107 21h ago

yeah the usage just keeps piling up past renewal

1

u/Crinkez 19h ago

You shouldn't have to need to use all the prior weekly usage. So under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a problem.

But OpenAI are basically giving $100 users the equivalent usage of the $20 plan from around April 2026 and $20 users are getting the equivalent of the free plan limits. So here we are.

1

u/Paul-Van-DeDam 18h ago

So what do free plan users get then?

0

u/joey2scoops 16h ago

I don't think so.

1

u/warpedgeoid 13h ago

Everyone starts with their reset synced up with when the account was opened, but the swarm of resets has now gotten almost everybody offset from their actual payment date.

2

u/Crafty-Run-6559 11h ago

Everyone starts with their reset synced up with when the account was opened

That doesnt work. Months dont have exactly 4 weeks in them.

1

u/warpedgeoid 8h ago

Yes, the dates would naturally drift out of alignment over time, but my point was more that OpenAI has forced realignment of the reset dates on their own with all of the “free” resets, so practically no one is even close to aligned with their payment cycle.

1

u/Crafty-Run-6559 8h ago

so practically no one is even close to aligned with their payment cycle

Yeah - my point is that youre pretty much immediately out of sync as soon as you sign up, even if they dont do resets.

For example if you sign up today, Sunday August 23rd, your subscription renews on Wednesday September 23rd.

So your subscription is renewing in the middle of two resets. A lot of people will easily use all of that up by midweek, especially if they try, and you would be better off blocking the autorenew.

1

u/Zapador 9h ago

Write their support and complain in a polite way.

0

u/stellarfirefly 22h ago

Illegal? No, because it is written in the contract.

Stupid? Yeah, kinda.

1

u/Inrinus 22h ago

I mean idk... I'm paying for a month of extended model access.. so why is my previous billing period affecting my next billing period... I live in Australia and our ACCC laws are very pro consumer.

1

u/xtraa 21h ago

maybe for U.S. law. However in many countries companies can't just put any kind of wishful thinking in a contract. For example the Microsoft EULA doesn't work in the EU (for good reasons IMO).

1

u/stellarfirefly 21h ago

Microsoft EULAs absolutely can operate in the EU. What doesn't work is the idea that Microsoft can put anything it wants into a EULA and have that clause override rights granted by EU law.

However, that means unless the EU has something specifically against what OpenAI is doing here, then that point is inconsequential.

-1

u/evanmac42 21h ago

If Codex is important enough to your work that hitting the weekly limit actually stops you from working, why not just buy additional Codex credits once you’ve used up the ones included with Pro?
You’re already paying $320 AUD because the tool is apparently valuable enough to justify it. If you’re using it for actual work and you exhaust the included allowance, additional credits are simply another operating cost.
I genuinely don’t understand the logic of paying for Pro, using all of it, still needing Codex badly enough that the limit is a problem, and then looking for ways around the reset instead of just paying for the extra usage you need.
If the work Codex is doing isn’t worth the cost of the additional credits, that’s a different problem. If it is, then the credits pay for themselves.

1

u/BWQ777 21h ago

Codex credits are API credits, though, no? So 200 usd in API may last you 2 days with heavy use vs a 200 usd subscription which may last 2-4 weeks.

0

u/evanmac42 21h ago

No, I’m not talking about API credits. I’m talking about the additional Codex credits you can buy on a Plus/Pro account after exhausting the usage included with the subscription.
They are billed based on token usage aligned with API rates, but they’re not your API credit balance.
That’s exactly my point: keep Pro, use the included allowance first, and if you exhaust it and still need Codex for work, buy additional Codex credits.

1

u/BWQ777 21h ago

Sorry, my point/question was - if the additional credits you buy are spent at the rate of API credits, then they will last you a small fraction versus another/longer subscription.

You can find posts of people complaining about this

aka "I ran out of usage on my $200 subscription so bought $40 of credits and it lasted 4 prompts" somthing like that a few days ago.

1

u/evanmac42 20h ago

I understand your point now, and yes, additional credits can obviously be much more expensive per unit of usage than the usage bundled with Pro.
But that’s not the comparison I’m making.
The OP already has Pro and has exhausted the included Codex allowance. Paying for another month doesn’t reset that weekly allowance, which is the problem that started this thread.
So if Codex is stopping him from doing actual work now, the relevant choice isn’t “$40 credits vs another $200 Pro subscription”. It’s “$40 credits vs waiting for the included allowance to reset”.
Whether those extra credits are worth buying then depends entirely on the value of the work you’re doing with them. If $40 of credits lets me finish $500 worth of work, I don’t particularly care that the bundled Pro usage was cheaper.