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ChatGPT and Codex will share one token budget in December

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Starting in December, Plus, Pro and Business plans will draw ChatGPT and Codex usage from a single token-based allowance, as Work's agentic features move into the main ChatGPT experience. Only chat with Instant models stays outside the budget.

By: Mikola Máté Patrik · · 3 min read

OpenAI Help Center article titled Understanding ChatGPT and Codex usage limits
Image: OpenAI · Screenshot · Screenshot of the official OpenAI Help Center article · Source

What's changing

According to an updated OpenAI help article, Plus, Pro and Business plans will share one usage allowance across ChatGPT and Codex starting in December. The reason is the merger of Chat and Work, which brings Work's agentic capabilities into the main ChatGPT experience.

  • Usage will be measured in tokens. How fast it drains depends on the model and the task, with advanced models and complex tasks using more.
  • Instant chat will not draw from the allowance.
  • The combined balance and reset times will appear under Settings > Usage.
  • At the limit, users can wait for a reset, upgrade or buy credits.

OpenAI has not given an exact date or allowance sizes. It says it expects most users won't need to wait for resets more often than they do now.

Why it matters

Work and Codex already shared a pool, while regular chat had separate limits. From December, someone who codes in Codex all afternoon will spend from the same balance when chatting in the evening, unless they use an Instant model. The Decoder reads this as the end of all-you-can-prompt pricing: ChatGPT stays flat-rate on paper, but heavy use on cheaper plans will mean weaker models. The model picker becomes the main cost control.

The note arrived two days after OpenAI doubled the Work and Codex allowance on Pro 100 and Pro 500 and canceled a planned Pro 200 cut. In hindsight, that looks like preparation for December.

Card and device limits

A separate help article describes new restrictions. If too many subscriptions are tied to the same payment card or device, ChatGPT may block a new purchase. There is also a cap on how many paid accounts can be used on one device; above it, users see "Device limit reached". The rule covers Go, Plus, Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500, while Free, Business, Enterprise and Edu don't count. OpenAI does not publish the numbers.

This mainly hits people who switched between several cheap subscriptions on one machine to stretch their Codex usage. OpenAI points them to credits or usage resets instead, which are generally more expensive. A shared family card or shared device can also trigger the limit, in which case OpenAI asks users to contact support.

What to do now

If your team runs several Plus or Pro accounts, review usage under Settings > Usage before December. Use smaller models for routine work and save the large ones for genuinely hard tasks.

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