OpenAI is removing text-chat limits for ChatGPT’s free tier, with unlimited chats arriving next week on a new GPT-5.6 Luna model. Luna becomes the default for Free and Go accounts this week, replacing GPT-5.5, and the announcement, reported by TechCrunch, lands as ChatGPT passes the 1 billion weekly users mark.
The change removes the main reason many free users ever hit a paywall: running out of messages. Text chat was the cap free users hit every few hours — the limits that remain cover files, images, voice and other tools.
Free and Go users also get a Think button for harder questions, which gives Luna more time to work through an answer. OpenAI calls it “higher reasoning for harder questions”.
Paid tiers are not left out. Plus and Pro users get an upgraded GPT-5.6 Sol, tuned for everyday questions with tighter answers, plus a slider that sets how much thought goes into each response. OpenAI’s internal evaluation puts factual errors 62% lower on Luna and 68% lower on Sol than on GPT-5.5 Instant; the Sol version used in Codex and Work is unchanged.
Unlimited text chat does not mean unlimited ChatGPT. Caps stay in place for file uploads, image generation, voice and other tools, and OpenAI says the new access is “subject to abuse guardrails”. The paid tiers still sell what the free plan keeps limited: deeper reasoning, longer memory, and the files and images that make ChatGPT useful for real work.
What unlimited ChatGPT means for UAE users
For the students and professionals here who use ChatGPT without a subscription, the free tier now covers the everyday use case — homework, drafts, research, quick answers. The AED-relevant question is what the remaining tiers are for: Go costs about AED 29 a month (with ads) and Plus about AED 73, and both exist to sell the depth the free plan leaves capped — the pricing question tbreak has covered before.
There is no regional delay — the rollout reaches the UAE on the same schedule as everywhere else, across web, mobile and desktop.
When do ChatGPT free users get unlimited text chats?
From next week. GPT-5.6 Luna becomes the default model for Free and Go accounts this week, and unlimited text chats plus the new Think button follow next week, subject to abuse guardrails.
What is GPT-5.6 Luna?
The new default model for ChatGPT’s free tier, replacing GPT-5.5. OpenAI’s internal evaluation found it makes about 62% fewer factual errors than GPT-5.5 Instant on financial, medical and legal prompts.
What limits remain on ChatGPT’s free plan?
Only text chats become unlimited. Caps still apply to file uploads, images, voice and other tools, and the unlimited access is subject to abuse guardrails.
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