Compared with Claude, OpenAI keeps the usage allowances for ChatGPT chat and Codex separate, and this has long been one of the incentives for ChatGPT users to keep subscribing—I’m one of them. When I use ChatGPT chat, I don’t worry at all about affecting Codex’s allowance; I can ask as much as I want. But this perk may disappear in December. Recently, someone overseas dug up a piece of explanatory text not yet made public in the ChatGPT web version’s checkout flow. It says that starting in December, usage for the ChatGPT and Codex plans will share the same cap. In other words, the more you chat going forward, the less allowance Codex may have. However, OpenAI has not yet officially announced this change.
The more you use ChatGPT, the less Codex you have left? OpenAI’s new quota policy may have leaked, with a possible full merger in December.
Tibor Blaho, who has long tracked OpenAI’s front-end code, recently shared on X that he found an extra hidden checkout description for “shared usage quota” in the ChatGPT web version. This text is hidden in the checkout page’s front-end resources and exists as a defaultMessage string; ordinary users cannot yet see it in the interface. The string begins with Starting in December, followed by this sentence:
“plan usage will have a shared limit across all of ChatGPT and Codex” （從 12 月開始，方案的使用量將在整個 ChatGPT 與 Codex 之間共用同一個額度上限。）
ChatGPT web app now has a new hidden shared usage limit checkout disclaimer – “Starting in December, plan usage will have a shared limit across all of ChatGPT and Codex” https://t.co/fLvLpihIkP
— Tibor Blaho (@btibor91) October 29, 2026
In addition, he pointed out that a post Tibo wrote earlier might be related to this matter.
Tibo mentioned a few days ago: “The team is working on this, but it won’t be officially released yet. We’re sorry for the confusion. Our plan is to bring together the best features of both “Chat” and “Work” at some point this year, but we’ll be cautious and take our time with this.”
It should be noted that this text is currently just copy pre-written in the front-end code and is not yet an official OpenAI announcement. There have been cases where the front end was set up first but not yet launched, or the content was changed at launch, so the actual rules still need to wait for official clarification. However, based on all the current signs, it seems very likely that a merger will happen.
Interestingly, OpenAI has just announced increased Work and Codex usage allowances for Pro 100, Pro 200, Pro 500, and Business Premium, with the allowances for Pro 100 and Pro 500 directly doubled. For Pro 200, the official plan to reduce allowances was canceled, and users who originally had lower allowances were doubled so that all Pro 200 users enjoy the same allowance. However, Plus users did not receive an allowance increase this time. It feels like efforts are already being made to minimize the possible impact after launch, except that Plus currently remains unchanged:
Day 25/ We are doubling all usage limits for all Pro 100/200/500 tiers and Business Premium, effective today. We heard your kind feedback and won’t be reducing usage limits for Pro 200, so your Work and Codex usage will stay the same. We’re also going to continue offering extended limits for dots for now, and usage of your dot will still continue to be separate from your default usage. And we’ll of course also keep shipping better models and other efficiency improvements that increase your effective usage over time.
— Tibo (@thsottiaux) October 29, 2026
So if chat and Codex share the same quota, what changes will there be in usage?
Pro and Business Premium users have had their quota doubled this time. It may not feel like much of a difference, but for Plus users who saw no change, it will be very noticeable.
During the day at work, you might use ChatGPT to look up information, organize meeting notes, revise proposals, and so on, and occasionally ask it to generate a few images for slides. After work, when you get home in the evening and want to keep using Codex to finish your personal projects, under the current rules, your daytime ChatGPT chats do not affect your Codex quota, so when you open Codex in the evening, your quota is the same as it was in the morning.
But if December really brings a change where all of ChatGPT shares the same limit, daytime chatting could eat up part of the quota first, leaving much less for Codex to use at night. The reverse is also true: the more you use Codex, the fewer times you’ll be able to chat with ChatGPT in the morning. More importantly, you won’t be able to just mindlessly keep the model on the highest thinking and reasoning mode like you can now.
Source: KOCPC Chinese