OpenAI is bringing back a five-hour usage limit on Codex and ChatGPT Work for Plus subscribers starting August 25, 2026, after a brief window during which only weekly caps applied. Thibault “Tibo” Sottiaux, OpenAI’s engineering lead for Codex and ChatGPT, announced the change on X, explaining that the hourly limit allows the company to “smoothen the load on our compute, allowing to keep the plan generous in terms of weekly usage.” He added that Plus users are “relatively casual and new users” who sometimes “accidentally eat through their whole weeks usage and then are confused, making it not a great experience.”
The reinstatement addresses two separate concerns which include infrastructure pressure and user experience. OpenAI needs the hourly cap to balance demand across its compute resources. Beyond that, a user who exhausts an entire week’s Codex allowance in one extended coding session hits a wall when they discover the feature remains unavailable until the weekly reset, despite expecting gradual availability. The five-hour boundary creates natural stopping points that prevent accidental overuse while keeping the weekly allowance genuinely generous in aggregate.
OpenAI is not applying the five-hour limit to Pro subscribers ($100 and $200 per month) for the upcoming months, creating a direct incentive for power users to upgrade. The $100 Pro tier, introduced in April 2026, includes five times the Codex usage available to Plus, plus access to exclusive models and unlimited Thinking mode. By keeping Pro exempt from hourly restrictions while Plus faces both an hourly and weekly cap, the company explicitly segments casual users from developers and professionals who rely on Codex for sustained workflows.
Once Plus users hit either limit, they can wait for the next reset cycle, purchase additional credits, or benefit from occasional free resets that OpenAI grants and banked resets earned through promotions and referrals.
The decision to re-impose limits on Codex arrives alongside OpenAI’s removal of all caps on standard text chat in August 2026. This distinction is deliberate as general-purpose conversation remains unrestricted, while specialized tools like Codex remain metered. The timing carries weight for Apple users, as iOS 27 and macOS Golden Gate will integrate Siri AI with access to both text chat and coding assistance via on-device and cloud models.
The reversal shows that OpenAI’s earlier expansion to unlimited Codex access was not a permanent pricing shift, but just a temporary measure,. For indie Mac developers and professionals betting on ChatGPT Plus for serious coding work, the move signals the time to evaluate either the Pro tier or alternatives like Anthropic’s Claude.
