OpenAI expands o1 model availability – here's who gets access and how much

ChatGPT has consistently generated high-quality responses, improving its quality through updates with newer models. Last week, OpenAI unveiled an even more capable model, o1, but there were limitations on who could access it and how much they could. OpenAI has now expanded its o1s availability to deliver on both fronts. 

On Monday, OpenAI shared via an X post that it increased the o1-preview and o1-mini limits for Plus and Teams users due to high interest. The o1-mini limits have been expanded sevenfold from 50 messages per week to 50 per day. Since o1-preview is a bit more costly, OpenAI increased that rate by a bit less, increasing the limits from 30 messages per week to 50 messages a week. 

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These higher limits require a ChatGPT Plus membership of $20 per month; however, if you depend on coding for your daily workflow, it may be worth the investment. ZDNET’s David Gewirtz put o1- preview to the test and was impressed by its ability to tackle several complex tasks with lots of detail, including writing a WordPress plugin, rewriting a string function, finding an annoying bug, and more. 

Even if you aren’t a coder, developer, or programmer, you can still benefit from the advanced reasoning that the o1 models offer, as they process your query longer before generating a response, resulting in more thorough responses to complex prompts. Because o1-preview and o1-mini lack internet browsing and media uploads, GPT-4o is still a better alternative for most general requests.

At launch, ChatGPT Plus and Teams users were given priority access, with the company sharing that it would bring both models to ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu at the beginning of this week and o1-mini to all ChatGPT-free users with no specified date. 

Although that announcement was only made a week ago, access has begun rolling out to ChatGPT Enterprise, Edu, and free users. 

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If you are a free user looking to access it, go to the model selector toggle at the top of your ChatGPT homepage, click on “Alpha Models,” and select o1-mini. If you don’t see it there, it may be because it hasn’t been rolled out to you yet. At the time of writing this article, I had access to it from my free account. 

The limit for free users remains unclear, but one can assume that it would be less than the limit available to subscribers, so it might not be the best option for people who plan to incorporate it into their workflows. However, it is a great way to try for free and learn what OpenAI’s latest model is all about. 

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If you are an Edu or Enterprise user, you can access both o1 models from the same toggle, except you are able to skip the “Alpha Models” step and directly click on it. To become an Edu or Enterprise member, you have to contact OpenAI’s sales team as the subscription is not a la carte like Teams and ChatGPT Plus are. 

Edu and Enterprise users have a lot to gain from this model, as the advanced reasoning capabilities are especially useful for research, advanced coding projects, and just to ensure greater accuracy when relying on the chatbot for assistance.