OpenAI has added card and device limits to ChatGPT, set out in a new Help Center page. If too many subscriptions are associated with the same payment card or device, ChatGPT may block a new subscription purchase at checkout. Separately, OpenAI now limits how many paid accounts you can use on one device: hit the cap and the account in front of you shows “Device limit reached” and cannot be used there.

The device limit can arrive late — the warning may appear at sign-in, or you may be signed out after a later check, even if the purchase went through and the account worked at first. The limits count ChatGPT Go, Plus and the Pro 100, Pro 200 and Pro 500 plans; Free accounts and Business, Enterprise and Edu workspaces do not count. Signing out of one account does not guarantee another becomes eligible, and buying credits or resetting usage will not clear a card or device restriction. OpenAI frames the limits as privacy and security protections and publishes no numbers for either cap.

The Decoder reads the change as steering users away from stacking several cheap subscriptions on one device toward buying extra credits or usage resets on a single account, which generally cost more — that commercial reading is The Decoder's; OpenAI's stated reason is security. The timing is practical either way: the limits land the same weekend OpenAI announced the shared ChatGPT-and-Codex allowance from December, and days after Codex made account switching easier on mobile.