Which chatbots stopped being fully free, and when'd they first limit daily messages?
Research question: Which public chatbots stopped being fully free, and when did they first put daily message caps on free users?
Only ChatGPT appears in the verified facts, so no other public chatbot's pricing change can be assessed 12. The records show that ChatGPT's free tier gives access to GPT-4o but with a reduced usage limit rather than unlimited use 1. By 2026, OpenAI's pricing page listed Deep Research as "limited" on the Free and Go plans, so free access was no longer unrestricted 6. As of June 2025, free users were allowed 5 Deep Research queries per month, a monthly rather than daily limit, so the facts do not establish when daily message caps first applied 3. The newest fact is dated September 15, 2026, about a month before today's October 2026 7.
Sources
"Users on ChatGPT's free tier can access GPT-4o, but at a reduced limit."Products and applications of OpenAI
"Although GPT-5 is free for all ChatGPT users, [ 24 ] [ 35 ] Plus users get higher use limits while Pro users get unlimited access to GPT-5 as well as limited access to GPT-5 Pro."GPT-5
"and free users receive 5 "lightweight" queries per month."ChatGPT Deep Research
"The ChatGPT subscriptions "Plus", "Pro", "Team", and "Enterprise" provide increased usage limits and access to additional features or models."Products and applications of OpenAI
"250 for Pro users, and 5 for free users."ChatGPT Deep Research
"OpenAI's pricing page lists Deep Research as "limited" on the Free and Go plans"ChatGPT Deep Research
"Plus costs $20 per month, and the caps that actually bind for most Plus users are on reasoning, voice and uploads rather than on plain chat."ChatGPT Usage Limits 2026: Free, Plus and Pro Message Caps