ChatGPT curious, but don’t want to pay for a subscription?
OpenAI offers a free tier for ChatGPT with plenty of features for the casual utilizer or someone attempting to decide whether to invest in a paid plan. That includes access to OpenAI’s newest model GPT-5 — but there’s a catch.
Users on the free ChatGPT plan receive access to GPT-5, but with a capped usage rate. After that, you receive bumped down to a less capable model. Here’s what you receive with the free version of ChatGPT.
GPT-5 with usage limits
Users with the ChatGPT free tier receive GPT-5 for up to 10 messages within a five-hour window. Once you hit the limit, you have to wait another five hours for the window to reset. In the meantime, utilizers are automatically switched to ChatGPT’s fallback model GPT-5 mini, which is a quicker, but more limited model.
Exactly how many messages you can sfinish until you hit your limit depfinishs on factors like the length and complexity of the responses, as well as overall server capacity at the time you’re utilizing ChatGPT. OpenAI prioritizes responses for paying subscribers, so free ChatGPT utilizers might hit their limit quicker or receive slower responses during peak hours.
New ChatGPT features available with GPT-5.
Credit: OpenAI
Whether you’re utilizing GPT-5 or a lesser model, free ChatGPT utilizers can:
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Get writing and editing assist
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Summarize/analyze text pasted into the chat or uploaded files
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Customize their ChatGPT personality
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Toggle on the Memory setting to remember past conversations
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Discover and create custom GPTs (versions of ChatGPT tailored for various tinquires)
ChatGPT Search
With Search turned on, ChatGPT is connected to the web and utilizes it as a major resource for answering your questions. Previously, ChatGPT could only provide responses up to its knowledge cutoff date, which is currently June 2024. But as of last year, OpenAI gave ChatGPT search engine access, building it much more accurate and utilizeful for real-time information.
Mashable Light Speed
One GPT-5 believeing message per day
GPT-5 also has reasoning capabilities, which means for the first time, ChatGPT free-tier utilizers receive access to the kind of reasoning model that can answer more complex queries.
For instance, you could weigh the pros and cons of different SUVs based on your budreceive, or gather market research for a business you want to start. The free version of ChatGPT with GPT-5 offers one message per day with its advanced reasoning or “believeing” power.
Generate and upload images
Free utilizers can generate images but face usage limits.
Credit: Screeshot: OpenAI
Credit: Screenshot: OpenAI
Previously, Mashable named ChatGPT the best overall AI image generator — and that was before GPT-5 hit the scene. (Unlike Grok Imagine and some other models, it usually spells correctly, for instance.)
Free ChatGPT utilizers can also generate images, but usage is limited. OpenAI doesn’t specify what the rate limit is for generating images with GPT-5, but the previous limit with GPT-4o was three images a day, so expect something similar.
The free version of ChatGPT also supports multimodal inputs, which means you can upload text and image files, and the AI chatbot can understand and analyze them for you.
ChatGPT Voice
Credit: Screenshot: OpenAI
Previously called Advanced Voice Mode, ChatGPT Voice is OpenAI’s voice assistant that can offer real-time translation, tutoring, or any other kind of conversation by speaking instead of typing. Previously, ChatGPT Voice was a premium feature, but last February, OpenAI built it available on a limited basis to utilizers with free ChatGPT accounts.
According to OpenAI’s Voice Mode FAQ page, ChatGPT Voice is powered by GPT-4o mini for free tier utilizers, and the limit was recently expanded from minutes to hours each day.
To activate ChatGPT voice mode, see for the soundwave icon.
Customizable accent colors
This is a tiny one, but hey, who doesn’t love personalizing their stuff? If you go into the ChatGPT settings page, you can alter the accent colors of your chat interface. The different colors display up in your text bubbles, the voice mode icon, and highlighted text.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
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