OpenAI is setting limits on how many paid ChatGPT accounts may run on a single computer or phone and how many subscriptions may be tied to a single payment card. The personal plans Go, Plus, as well as Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 are affected. Once a limit is reached, ChatGPT blocks the purchase of another subscription or shows the message "Device limit reached" at login. The rules are listed on a help page on card and device limits, which OpenAI has also published in German.
What happens once a limit applies?
When paying, the notice "Too many subscriptions are linked to this card or device" appears. A rejection by the bank is not behind it; OpenAI itself stops the purchase and points to the options of the existing account. A second block affects accounts that are already paid for: on the affected device, such an account can no longer be used. The warning can also appear only after a later check, even though the purchase and first use worked.
ChatGPT blocks your subscription: what now?
The ways out that OpenAI names for Go, Plus and Pro
Which message do you see?
- "Device limit reached" at loginLog in with another account of your own or cancel and request a refund
- "Too many subscriptions" when payingStay with the existing account, check credits or resetting the usage quota
- Block despite a shared card or family computerAsk support for a review, state the shared use
OpenAI does not state how many accounts per device are allowed
Source: OpenAI Help Center
For the message "Device limit reached", OpenAI names two ways out. Either you log in with another account of your own that is permitted on the device, or you cancel the affected subscriptions and request a refund. For subscriptions via ChatGPT or Google Play, the warning offers the option "Cancellation and refund" for this; for purchases via Apple, the refund goes through Apple. Credits, that is, prepaid additional balance, and resetting the usage quota do not lift the block.
Who do the limits apply to?
OpenAI does not count free accounts and the plans for teams and organizations (Business, Enterprise and Edu) toward the device limit. The provider does not reveal how many accounts per device or subscriptions per card are allowed. OpenAI has also not published a cutoff date; according to OpenAI, subscriptions taken out before the rule took effect may continue to run. OpenAI makes no restriction by country, so the limits also apply in Germany.
The block has nothing to do with account switching, through which you can stay logged in to at most two accounts at the same time. Logging out does not free up space under the device limit: according to OpenAI, it is not guaranteed afterwards that another paid account becomes usable on the device.
How should the move be assessed?
According to The Decoder, the rule targets users who switch between several inexpensive subscriptions on one device as soon as the quota of one is used up. From December, chats and Codex tasks in Plus, Pro and Business will be counted against a shared quota. For additional usage in Codex, ChatGPT Work and the extensions for Word, Excel and PowerPoint, OpenAI already sells credits today.
What this means for you
If you share a computer or a credit card with family or colleagues who have their own Plus subscriptions, the block can affect you too. OpenAI explicitly names this case: ask support for a review, state that the card or device is shared, and provide only the data of your own account.
If your agency pays for several Plus subscriptions for the team via a company card, it is worth looking at the Business plan, whose accounts OpenAI does not count toward the limit. On the other hand, you had better not cancel a running subscription hastily in order to take out another: OpenAI does not guarantee that the new purchase will go through afterwards.
If the quota of a single subscription regularly isn't enough for you, it is worth being more economical with follow-up queries. How to build prompts so that ChatGPT delivers usable answers on the first attempt is shown by the ChatGPT Masterclass on TutKit.
OpenAI published the help page at the end of October 2026; The Decoder reported on it on November 1, 2026.
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