ChatGPT plans share one token budget from December

An OpenAI web page says that from December, ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Business plans get one shared token budget. The budget covers ChatGPT and Codex, the OpenAI tool for code, and OpenAI gave no number for it. A token is a unit of text that a model reads or writes, and Work agent features move into ChatGPT.

How it works

A hard task or a large model uses more tokens. At the limit, a user can wait, move to a higher plan or get more credits. Chats with Instant models do not use the budget.

The numbers

OpenAI doubled the limits of its higher plans before this change. This reads as a step to prepare for the merger. At this time, users select between 2 modes and 11 model settings.

What is not known

OpenAI gave no budget number for each plan. Heavy use on cheaper plans can give results that are not as good, but no test shows this. Anthropic put Chat and Cowork together in Claude.

Insight: Flat prices give way to prices by use

OpenAI puts chat and agent work in one token budget. On 14 October 2026, OpenAI started Dots, an agent in plans from $100 a month. On 30 October 2026, Google Cloud made spend caps available to all customers. AI vendors look set to charge by use, and a buyer must set its limit. Leaders must plan AI cost by use, not by person.