Answering your questions about business and technology
I just started using ChatGPT with a free account and I keep getting messages telling me that I’ve exceeded my usage. What are the limits for the free accounts?
~ Anonymous
Hello,
Yeah, this is a fun one (not really).
The short answer is I don’t know. That is because of multiple things like they don’t advertise what the limits are, the numbers seem to keep changing, it looks like it depends on current server usage, etc.
The one thing that seems consistent is the image generation. It will let you do 2 before you get cut off (3 if you’re lucky). Then you’ll have to wait between 6 and 24 hours before you can do another 2 or 3.
The text prompts depend on a lot of factors like how long your prompt is, if you have attachments, and if you get a lot of output. I’ve seen between 5 and 10 pure text prompts before getting cut off (both with our testing and feedback from others).
Code is another one that varies wildly. The length and complexity of the code determine how many prompts you will get. I’ve had as little as one—actually, less than one because it didn’t finish my output.
If this becomes frustrating (or already is), then you might consider upgrading to Plus for $20/month. It is paid month-to-month, so you can get it for one month, test things much more thoroughly, and then cancel.
If paying isn’t an option or you just don’t want to, then you could always make more than one account and switch whenever you reach your limits.
Hope that helps
Damien