GPT-4 usage cap – What it is and how to fix it

ChatGPT message caps and how to work around them

Steve Hook

Steve Hook

Reviewed By: Kevin Pocock

How to avoid GPT-4 usage cap.

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The GPT-4 usage cap limits your input queries, allowing a certain number in a given time frame. We feel your frustration as a paying ChatGPT Plus subscriber, unable to use GPTs, ChatGPT plugins, or any of the other new features of this ground-breaking generative AI. If you’re seeing the ChatGPT error message “You’ve reached the current usage cap for GPT-4, please try again after X”, then here’s the solution.

How to fix the GPT-4 usage cap

This error message refers to the usage limitation placed on ChatGPT to prevent spam and DDoS attacks. Even paid users with a premium plan such as ChatGPT Plus or ChatGPT Enterprise are subject to this message limit.

The GPT-4 usage cap.
ChatGPT error message reads “You’ve reached the current usage cap for GPT-4. You can continue with the default model now, or try again” after a period of time.

To fix this problem, paid users can resort to the “default model”, which is GPT-3.5. Sadly, this does mean your premium access to server bandwidth is forfeited for the time being. As a result, you’ll have the same access to AI text generation as everyone else, and with at least “100 million weekly active users” as confirmed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on OpenAI DevDay, that’s a limited amount.

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Your next best option is to switch to a ChatGPT alternative. A different AI chatbot, like Bing Chat, will do largely the same thing, especially because Microsoft’s version uses the exact same LLM (large language model) as OpenAI! In fact, the tech giant even has its own AI image generator, Bing Image Creator, which runs on DALL-E 3 (Stylized DALL·E 3), just like ChatGPT’s image output feature.