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Codex CLI: Plus users hitting usage limits extremely quickly compared to competitors #2448
Description
Issue Summary
ChatGPT Plus users are hitting usage limits for Codex CLI very quickly, sometimes after just 1-2 requests, making the service nearly unusable for practical development work.
Installation Method
npm install -g @openai/codexCurrent Behavior
- Plus users report hitting usage limits after minimal usage (sometimes just 1-2 coding requests)
- Limits seem to reset but the allowance is extremely small
- Usage limits appear to be much more restrictive than what's advertised or expected for a paid plan
- Users are forced to interrupt their development workflow frequently
Expected Behavior
- Plus users should have reasonable usage limits that allow for meaningful development sessions
- Usage limits should be clearly communicated to users
- The service should be competitive with other AI coding solutions
Comparison with Competitors
Claude Code Pro users can typically:
- Run extended coding sessions throughout the day
- Handle complex multi-file projects without hitting limits
- Complete substantial development tasks without interruption
Meanwhile, Codex CLI Plus users are hitting limits after very basic requests, making it practically unusable for real development work.
Impact
This severely limits the usefulness of Codex CLI for Plus subscribers who:
- Cannot complete basic coding tasks
- Experience frequent interruptions during development
- May consider switching to competitor services that offer more generous usage allowances
- Lose context and momentum when forced to stop mid-task
Environment
- Platform: Codex CLI (installed via npm)
- Installation:
npm install -g @openai/codex - Subscription: ChatGPT Plus
- Authentication: Sign in with ChatGPT
Additional Context
While I see issue #2022 discusses similar problems and some improvements have been made (v0.21 with better caching), the usage limits are still extremely restrictive for Plus users.
For a paid service competing with solutions like Claude Code Pro, the current usage limits make Codex CLI nearly unusable for practical development work, despite the quality of GPT-5 model.
Suggested Solutions
- Increase usage limits for Plus users to competitive levels
- Provide transparency about current limits and when they reset
- Consider usage-based tiers rather than hard cut-offs that interrupt development workflows
- Better limit indicators so users can plan their usage accordingly
- Show current usage status in CLI (similar to
/statuscommand but with limit information)
This issue significantly impacts user experience and competitive positioning of Codex CLI, especially when users pay for Plus expecting reasonable usage allowances.
Activity
[-]Codex Web: Plus users hitting usage limits extremely quickly compared to competitors[/-][+]Codex CLI: Plus users hitting usage limits extremely quickly compared to competitors[/+]qunahui commentedon Aug 19, 2025
Allow us to use gpt-5-mini in Codex CLI with ChatGPT Plus subscription, gpt-5 hit the usage limit really fast.
Edit: Why am I getting dislike and meh ? GPT-5-Mini only available for pay-as-you-go apiKey, not with ChatGPT Plus subcription. Trying to get more usages out of this.
rTiGd2 commentedon Aug 19, 2025
This was new today me me - It has been 15 hours and my Plus usage hasn't reset, 1 or 2 prompt would be an improvement for me right now.
epasEltronix commentedon Aug 19, 2025
Plese make a transparent usage statistic and when to expect to reset them. We clearly need more time to use.
S-Gr4y commentedon Aug 19, 2025
Same I've been blocked for more than 24h now :'(
adsqx commentedon Aug 19, 2025
For example, Gemini CLI gives you 1,000 queries per day — for free.
radoslawcz commentedon Aug 20, 2025
I also hit the weekly limit too quickly on Plus. I’ve only been using it for about 3 days, and I never even once hit the 5-hour session limit. But now I can’t use it anymore because the weekly limit was reached (since 5 hours total already passed). So I never actually used a full 5-hour slot, but it still counts as too much for the week. I think that’s too harsh.
We also need more statistics - like when exactly the limit will be lifted - so users can plan their usage better.
FreddyE1982 commentedon Aug 20, 2025
I just hit the limit according to CLI..but I can still use the web version. It seems to me that CLI and web actually have seperate limits. This needs to be clarified in the readme or better: CLI should share the limit of the web version.
FreddyE1982 commentedon Aug 20, 2025
okay...this is weird. now I can use the cli again...no "ran into limit" message anymore.
adamsvoboda commentedon Aug 21, 2025
I've been using gpt-5-high with codex and the Plus plan, I hit the usage limits after about ~1.6M tokens. I assume gpt-5-high might contribute to hitting the limits faster, but I haven't tested it to confirm.
bstag commentedon Aug 21, 2025
Yep after 4 - 5 hour limits this week. I have hit my weekly limit. Not that I used it for the full 5 hours of those sessions. Glad this was just a test to see if this would work and have other options.
radoslawcz commentedon Aug 21, 2025
From what I saw in the /model selection you can choose gpt-5 minimal.
FreddyE1982 commentedon Aug 21, 2025
the thing about the modes below medium: they make codex WAY to dumb by comparison. It actually needs to work MORE to accomplish stuff that way, and needs more user guidance for it. this totally negates the "advantage" that the lower reasoning modes need less tokens.
36 remaining items
Smrtnyk commentedon Sep 16, 2025
same issue for me, was really surprising
I did choose the new codex model, maybe it has much lower limits
V4C38 commentedon Sep 16, 2025
Same here
ooropuloo commentedon Sep 16, 2025
Same here
■ You've hit your usage limit. Upgrade to Pro (https://openai.com/chatgpt/pricing) or try again in 1 day 20 hours 19 minutes.
Roalkege commentedon Sep 18, 2025
Same
■ You've hit your usage limit. Upgrade to Pro (https://openai.com/chatgpt/pricing) or try again in 5 days 17 hours 52 minutes.whyynoot commentedon Sep 19, 2025
lol, same. 3 request untill rate limit on plus
muhammad1438 commentedon Sep 20, 2025
I’m currently on the Teams plan through my university, and I’ve just hit my weekly usage limit. While I’ve been supplementing with other tools like Claude (which resets every 5 hours) and Gemini (offering 1,000 free requests), and even GLM’s affordable options, it’s been challenging to understand why the usage limits for OpenAI’s offerings are so restrictive by comparison.
V-Andriy commentedon Sep 21, 2025
royzennet commentedon Sep 21, 2025
very very generous limit XD
hashirventhodi commentedon Sep 21, 2025
You've hit your usage limit. Upgrade to Pro (https://openai.com/chatgpt/pricing) or try again in 2 days 22 hours 47 minutes.
akadata commentedon Sep 29, 2025
wrote an article to try and get around this, first limits were a few hours, then a week then 4 hours into the next week another week. worse still the limits raise each time, have around 5 more days till it is usable locally again, so we came up with this as a partial solution https://articles.akadata.ltd/openai-quietly-lowers-codex-usage-limit-and-how-to-run-it-locally/ < not advertising here, it is my own article.
rubens-amaral commentedon Sep 29, 2025
https://github.com/rubens-amaral/codex_usage_report
bhupesh-sf commentedon Sep 29, 2025
2 prompts and it reaches 5 hr limit, too bad
joshuaolusayo commentedon Sep 30, 2025
Try and do a video tutorial on this.
Thank you