OpenAI has defined rate limits based on different user types to ensure efficient API usage. The following limits are set according to the user category:
Free trial users: 20 requests per minute (RPM) and 40,000 tokens per minute (TPM)
Pay-as-you-go users (within the first 48 hours): 60 RPM and 60,000 TPM
Pay-as-you-go users (after the initial 48 hours): 3,500 RPM and 90,000 TPM
Understanding these rate limits is essential for effective usage of the ChatGPT API.
During a conversation with ChatGPT, each message consumes tokens from the token limit. As the conversation lengthens, the token budget for each individual message decreases. Therefore, effective management of conversation length and complexity is needed to ensure all messages remain within the token limit.
This practice not only maintains optimal performance but also maximizes the model's understanding and responsiveness.