Starting in December, ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Business subscribers will draw from one shared token budget across ChatGPT and Codex, according to an updated OpenAI support page. The change follows OpenAI's earlier announcement that it plans to merge its Chat and Work features, folding agentic capabilities into the main interface. For users, the practical effect is that the flat-rate experience many subscribers assumed is being quietly reshaped.
The report explains that tokens measure the information a model processes and generates, so more complex models and tasks drain the budget faster. Users can check their remaining balance and reset times in Settings. Once they hit the limit, they can wait for a reset, upgrade, or buy extra credits. Those options are sensible on paper, but they place the burden of managing consumption on the customer, who must now track a meter that was previously invisible.
OpenAI says chats with Instant models will not count toward the budget, and the report notes that on paper ChatGPT remains a flat-rate service. That qualifier matters. The report also says heavy use on cheaper plans will likely mean lower-quality results. A subscription whose quality depends on how much you have already used is not the all-you-can-prompt product many people signed up for.
The report links the merger to a broader problem. Users currently choose between two operating modes and 11 model settings, differences that even experienced users can barely keep straight. Simplifying that menu is a fair goal, and consolidation may well make the product easier to use. But the company is simplifying the interface while making the underlying cost of each interaction harder to predict. OpenAI recently doubled usage limits for higher-priced plans, which the report presumes was preparation for the merger.
OpenAI should be more direct about what subscribers are actually buying. If the budget is shared and heavier tasks cost more, the pricing page should say so plainly, with clear examples of how many tasks a plan supports. Anthropic has already combined Chat and Cowork in Claude, so the trend is industry-wide. Customers deserve transparency about the trade-off before December, not after their first warning that the budget is gone.