Here’s where to find GPT-6 Astra and what you need to know before its usage limits catch you off guard.
OpenAI began rolling out GPT-6 Astra on September 3, but access isn’t as simple as opening ChatGPT and looking for a button that says “Astra.” In standard ChatGPT, the model is known as GPT-6 Pro and is rolled out for the $100 and $200 Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans. For now, Free and Go users are excluded, with Plus subscribers receiving Astra via ChatGPT Work and Codex (not regular chat) as the rollout hits their accounts.
Availability may vary between Chat, Work and Codex. OpenAI says the rollout will be gradual, so having a qualifying plan doesn’t mean Astra will be waiting for you today. OpenAI has not specified when eligible accounts will receive Astra.
How to use GPT-6 Astra in ChatGPT
Screenshot by Husain Parvez (OpenAI)
If you have an eligible Pro, Business, or Enterprise account, open the model picker in a regular ChatGPT chat and search under Pro for GPT-6 Pro. It’s the one powered by GPT-6 Astra, so don’t get too caught up in the menu looking for its flashier name. Another possible hurdle for enterprise users is that access also depends on workspace template access permissions.
If you’re on Plus, open Work on the web or mobile app and select Astra from the available templates once it’s deployed to your account. In the desktop app, select ChatGPT, switch from Chat to Work and choose Astra there. Codex users can also choose Astra, but OpenAI says the Codex CLI requires version 0.153.0 or newer.
Still nothing? Even if the desktop app recently updated, OpenAI suggests manually checking for updates by going to Menu > Check for Updates. The work is happening separately, so Astra could be available on one platform before another.
If you use Work with Local Files or desktop apps, there is also a privacy aspect. Even when Work runs locally, messages and task context can still be stored in the cloud.
See how quickly Astra uses your allocation
OpenAI
When Astra arrives, there’s another factor to watch out for: your usage allowance.
According to OpenAI, Astra can use up your allocation faster than GPT-5.6 Sol, depending on task complexity, amount of context, required reasoning, and other usage parameters. So a big coding job that requires more reasoning may use more of your allocation than a quick question.
OpenAI estimates that Plus users can send approximately five to 45 local Astra messages per five-hour period. The $100 Pro plan is rated between 25 and 225 messages, while the $200 tier gets between 100 and 900. You can check your current limits and reset times in the ChatGPT usage dashboard.
Cat has distinct boundaries. On the $100 Pro plan, GPT-6 Pro shares a weekly allowance of 50 messages with GPT-5.6 Sol Pro, while the $200 plan allows 200 GPT-6 Pro messages per week.
If your allowance is dwindling faster than you’d like, reserve Astra for tasks that require it. OpenAI advises keeping prompts focused, including only relevant files, and setting the output format and length. Telling Astra what reasonable assumptions it can make can also reduce unnecessary back-and-forth.
GPT-6 Astra is available to developers via API. The standard price is $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens. Queries that accumulate more than 272,000 total input tokens are charged twice the input and cache rates, and output rates at 1.5x.
