Users Flood Complaints as Codex/Astra Quotas Drain at Multiple Times Normal Rate
From September 16 to 18, OpenAI Codex users flooded in with complaints about abnormally fast quota consumption, pointing fingers mainly at the new Astra model and a suspected tightening of quota policy; OpenAI has made no public response.
Confirmed
- On September 16, Plus user crunchy-rabbit ran a controlled test: the day's first task—simply asking the Sol Medium tier to look up a person's name—burned 8% of the 5-hour quota and 1% of the weekly quota; a week earlier the same query could run dozens of times without hitting the cap.
- Pro user dontshootog said the 5-hour limit returned after Astra launched, with usage at 2.5x that of Sol, dropping 2% of quota per 5 minutes of use; he estimated Astra is less than 10% more efficient than Sol, making it a bad deal.
- Reddit user seasonedatheist reported that with the new Astra model, the Codex $100 plan's weekly quota ran out in about 3 hours, and felt Anthropic's (which they called Fable) quota experience was noticeably better.
- Developer altryne tested it: just one day after the weekly quota reset, over 80% had been consumed in medium, non-fast mode, questioning the official "for everyone" marketing.
- Hugging Face engineer NielsRogge publicly complained that Codex is "unusable": generating just two paragraphs of text triggered the usage limit again, suspected to be caused by the 5-hour limit, and tagged Codex lead Thib.
- Developer ElitzaVasileva (shared by Jason Kneen) said only 7% of quota remained with 3 days until reset and no backup resets, the 20x tier was suspended from sale and couldn't be upgraded—right in the middle of a large-scale code migration; Reddit user Junra described a similar bind: the 20x Pro plan's consumption surged after the usage reset, an add-on 5x package burned through at 5-10x per week, and even buying an extra 20x was blocked by OpenAI.
- Another user joked that the $200 subscription's usage cap for the Astra model over 7 days is "small enough to fit in a little bag."
Unconfirmed
- The exact cause of the faster quota burn (billing coefficient changes, quota tightening, or Astra itself consuming more) all comes from user-side observations and speculation; OpenAI has not officially explained.
Why it matters
- This affects paying users across all tiers from Plus to the $200 plan, with high-priced tiers both rate-limited and blocked from add-on purchases, directly disrupting heavy workflows; multiple users have begun comparing Anthropic's quota experience, potentially triggering subscription migration.
2026-09-16 ~ 2026-09-18 · 8 related posts
- Episode 1: OpenAI Codex Active Users Exceed 15 Million with Reset Quotas(2026-08-12, 4 posts)
- Episode 2: OpenAI Codex Users Report Quotas Drained Rapidly, Quality Complaints Mount(2026-08-19, 4 posts)
- Episode 3: OpenAI Codex Hits 20 Million Active Users, Resets Usage Credits(2026-08-21, 4 posts)
- Episode 4: OpenAI Admits Codex Cache Hit Rate Dropped After Users Report Quota Anomalies, Promises Compensation(2026-08-22, 7 posts)
- Episode 5: OpenAI Users Complain of Frequent Usage Limits Without Reset(2026-08-22, 2 posts)
- Episode 6: OpenAI Admits Three Codex Bugs, Resets All Paid Usage(2026-08-23, 6 posts)
- Episode 7: OpenAI Restores 5-Hour Codex and Work Usage Limits for ChatGPT Plus(2026-08-25, 4 posts)
- Episode 8: OpenAI Codex Users Report Quotas Draining Abnormally Fast(2026-09-05, 5 posts)
- Episode 9: Users Flood Complaints as Codex/Astra Quotas Drain at Multiple Times Normal Rate(2026-09-16, 8 posts)
Primary sources
- [source] Codex users report suddenly tighter usage limits: one simple query burns 8% of 5-hour quota — crunchy-rabbit · 2026-09-16
- [source] OpenAI Pro users hit 5-hour limits again as Astra burns quota 2.5x faster than Sol — dontshootog · 2026-09-16
- Codex power users stuck: 7% quota left, 3-day wait, 20x plan paused — jasonkneen · 2026-09-16
- OpenAI's Astra burns through Codex $100 plan weekly quota in 3 hours — seasonedatheist · 2026-09-17
- Heavy user burns through Astra quota in about a day, questions the 'for everyone' pitch — altryne · 2026-09-17
- [source] Codex hits usage limit after just two paragraphs, engineer complains — NielsRogge · 2026-09-17
- Codex $200 tier's 7-day Astra usage limits mocked as tiny enough to fit in a bag — CtrlAltDwayne · 2026-09-17
- Codex Pro User Says Usage Limits Got 5-10x Worse, Can't Even Buy Another Plan — Junra · 2026-09-18