ChatGPT and Codex May Share a Single Usage Limit Starting in December

OpenAI appears set to put ChatGPT and its coding assistant, Codex, under a single shared usage limit starting in December. A notice on a subscription screen refers to a combined cap for both services. How much usage subscribers will get—and whether ordinary ChatGPT conversations will count toward it—remains unclear.

The payment page shown states in English that, from December, ChatGPT and Codex will share a usage limit under a subscription. The notice appears beneath the terms for a monthly plan priced at €23, including tax. That figure is no proof that OpenAI is raising its prices.

The same wording also appeared on October 29 in a discussion on the technology forum LINUX DO. A user there said they had found the text in the code of a checkout page. That does not amount to a full, official explanation of the new subscription rules. Nor does the notice specify an exact start date in December.

OpenAI already applies a shared usage budget across some of its services. According to its official guidance on Codex, Codex, ChatGPT Work and other supported AI agents can draw on the same available usage allowance and purchased credits. The details depend on the subscription plan and the features available.

Codex helps developers write code, fix bugs and run tests. ChatGPT Work is designed for longer tasks, such as research and creating documents and spreadsheets. AI Wereld has previously covered the launch of ChatGPT Work and Codex in the ChatGPT mobile app.

Regular ChatGPT chat is currently a separate experience. OpenAI also sets separate limits for features such as image generation, file uploads and voice. The new wording raises a key question: from December, will an everyday text prompt also eat into the budget a user has for Codex? The notice does not make that clear.

The possible change comes as OpenAI looks to reshape ChatGPT. On October 28, OpenAI employee Tibo Sottiaux confirmed in a post on X that the company is working to bring Chat and Work capabilities together. He said the update was not yet rolling out and that the team wanted to proceed carefully.

Chat is built for questions, explanations and short conversations. Work handles larger tasks and can use tools and connected services. If both capabilities become part of the same experience, how OpenAI measures usage will matter more. The company has not, however, confirmed that the planned merger of Chat and Work is directly linked to the December usage limit.

The move would fit OpenAI’s broader push to bring its products closer together. In March, AI Wereld reported on plans for a single app combining ChatGPT and other AI tools.

For someone who uses ChatGPT to write and Codex to develop software, a genuinely shared budget could make the two activities compete with each other. A lengthy coding task might leave less capacity for other work. Conversely, heavy ChatGPT use could reduce the number of Codex tasks available. It is not yet clear whether that is how the system will work.

OpenAI has also not said whether it will increase the overall budget to accommodate the change, or how the limits will differ across Free, Go, Plus, Pro and business plans. The notice gives no figures for messages, credits or computing units.

On its current pricing page, OpenAI distinguishes between access to standard text chats and more demanding features. Eligible users can also buy extra credits for certain features once their included allowance runs out, according to the guidance on additional credits. That does not confirm that the same system will apply to all ChatGPT conversations from December.

For now, users can check their existing limits in ChatGPT’s usage settings or the Codex dashboard. Only once OpenAI publishes the new terms and exact limits will it be clear whether subscribers can do more, less or the same for the same price.