Open AI has recently introduced its latest flagship GPT model, GPT-4o which is not only better than the existing GPT-4 Turbo but also cheaper. The company has started rolling out the new model to both free and paid users.
But is the Chat GPT-4o completely free? What are its limitations? Here you will get to know everything.
ChatGPT-4o aka ChatGPT-4 Omni is undoubtedly faster and provides more accurate answers to most queries while using fewer tokens.
Is ChatGPT-4o Free?
Yes, the ChatGPT 4o is free, but not completely. As expected paid members will have more benefits than free users. The free plan comes with various limitations such as how many queries you can carry out, maximum number of words in a reply, how long you get access to GPTs, etc.
My Experience with OpenAI GPT-4o
I am a free user and got access to ChatGPT 4o a couple of days after its announcement. Since then, I have been testing the new model capabilities. When I used prompts for small queries that require small replies from ChatGPT, I didn’t hit GPT-4o limit. So if your usage pattern is similar, you don’t need to upgrade to a paid plan.
When I asked for a long description of something (a history topic in particular), a single long reply exhausted my free limit. This means, the limit also apply to the number of words executed in prompts.
My teammate also performed various tests including coding test and created a retro snake game (python based) for free in seconds. The ChatGPT 4o free version gave a 120 line code without exhausting the limit.
So the need for a Paid plan depends on your use case. First test GPT-4o in the free plan and see if the free tier is enough for you or not. Now let’s see the limitations in detail and understand free vs paid benefits of GPT-4o.
GPT-4o Limitations in Free Tier
OpenAI has not shared any specific number, but free users can use GPT-4o only a limited number of times every three hours. After reaching the limit, ChatGPT will automatically switch to GPT-3.5 model. This means if you hit the limit, you will have to wait until for next 3-4 hours to use the faster GPT 4o again, but till then you can use GPT 3.5.
Whereas, Plus members can send 80 messages every 3 hours in GPT-4o. This means it will be less than 80 messages in the free plan. These limits do not carry forward or add to the next hour window.
Also remember, it is not only about messages, long replies from GPT will exhaust your limit faster. For example, a 2000 word reply or a 2000 word long prompt can exhaust the limit in GPT-4o.
With GPT-4o, free users can now access GPTs as well. You can access GPTs as long as you don’t hit the GPT-4o limit. If it reaches the limit, you need to wait until it resets again in 3 hours.
The GPT-4o model also brings additional features to free users. Here are the additional benefits available to free users with GPT-4o:
- Browse the web and obtain up-to-date information
- Analyze and extract insights from your data (to a portion of users)
- Upload images in your prompts
- Provide support files in your prompts
- Discover and use GPTs
How to Know If a Answer Is from GPT-4o or GPT-3.5?
Unlike Paid Plans, the free plan does not give an option to manually switch between GPT-4o, GPT-4, or GPT-3.5 on top. Instead, you get this option in the reply from ChatGPT. It is hard to figure out which model is replying to your query.
To know the model, first enter a prompt in the GPT and wait for a reply. In reply, if you see an AI assistant icon, that means it is working on the GPT-4o model, but if you see a flash icon, then it’s working on GPT-3.5.
How to Switch Back to GPT-3.5 from GPT-4o?
Well, you can’t switch to GPT-3.5 for your next messages. You can only change the GPT model for the current message. Once you enter the next prompt, it will automatically switch to GPT-4o, given that you have not exhausted the limit. After the limit, all your queries will be handled by the GPT-3.5 model until the limit resets.
So that’s all on the GPT 4o for Free and Paid users. If you have any queries, you can ask in the comment section.
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