It’s fair to say there’s artificial intelligence fever in town. You’ve perhaps also caught the bug.
You’ve heard all the rave about how AI is doing this or that, and ChatGPT seems to be at the center of everything.
You whip out your device. You enter the website and get the “ChatGPT is at capacity right now.” Bummer! All that excitement flushed down the drain.
Perhaps you’ve used it before and found it helpful but can’t access the tool at a critical juncture.
In this article, we share ways to resolve the “ChatGPT is at capacity right now.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, I’ve answered additional questions on ChatGPT’s “at capacity” error.
What Does At Capacity Means for ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a popular tool. Every minute, many users try to access the platform. SimilarWeb shows that chat.openai.com web address received 1.8 billion visits in April across mobile and desktop devices. Such traffic puts a huge strain on resources. Hence the need to “throttle” users.
How to Workaround the ChatGPT at Capacity Error?
ChatGPT users can workaround the ChatGPT at Capacity Error by switching to alternatives like Bing AI and Google Barge, using a VPN, or opening the AI chat tool at off-peak hours.
Alternatively, you may subscribe to ChatGPT Plus for priority access even during high-traffic periods.
What You’ll Need to Fix “ChatGPT is at Capacity Right Now” Errors
You may need to install one or more of these items to fix the “ChatGPT is at capacity right now” error.
- VPN: A VPN allows you to surf the Internet like you’re in another location.
- Microsoft Edge Browser: To access the Bing AI chat tool, you must install the Microsoft Edge browser. You can only query the tool from the browser.
- Google Chrome extensions: You may need to also install a Chrome extension of ChatGPT.
How To Fix ChatGPT is at Capacity Right Now” Error Message: Step-By-Step Instructions
You can do many things with ChatGPT, from using it as a research assistant to interpreting legal terms. You can run a podcast with ChatGPT too, and much more.
So, it’s always a bummer when you can’t access the tool. You can try a few tricks to remove the “at capacity” error while trying to access ChatGPT.
Option 1: Wait and Refresh Later
The simplest trick is to give it a few minutes before trying again. You may gain access after a few minutes, especially if it’s not peak hours.
You can do other tasks while you wait and return to ChatGPT later. That’s a better option than dwelling on an unavailable tool.
You may also check if ChatGPT is generally available or if the whole platform is suffering an outage.
Option Two: Try to Access During Off-Peak Hours
I’ve seen many different peak periods for ChatGPT. Using anecdotal data, most users receive the “at capacity” error between 7 AM to 4 PM (United States time). That’s like the regular busy period for most workers and students.
The truth is, it’s hard to tell without access to raw data. However, it’s logical to expect less traffic on the platform when most people are not at work or are supposed to be asleep.
Just for some cheekiness, I also asked ChatGPT for its busiest period.
The AI chat answered, “I am available 24/7, and I receive a constant stream of requests from users all around the world. So, there is no specific period where I receive the most traffic. Instead, my usage patterns are spread out throughout the day and across different time zones.”
Option 3: Use Any of ChatGPT Alternatives
If you have time-bound reasons to use ChatGPT, perhaps you should use some alternatives rather than waiting.
While ChatGPT enjoys the benefit of being the most popular AI chat tool, there are other tools with similar or better accuracy and even comparable user experience to Chat GPT.
We cover these alternatives below.
What are ChatGPT alternatives?
Alternatives to ChatGPT include:
1. Bing AI
Bing AI chat is Microsoft’s response to ChatGPT. The AI chat tool is attached to the search tool. You can choose between three conversation styles (creative, more balanced, and more precise) before using the AI-powered search tool.
It’s interesting that Bing calls it conversation styles when it’s more than that. In creative mode, the AI tool can generate content such as poems, stories, code, essays, songs, celebrity parodies, and more. The tool can also help you rewrite and improve your content and even draw for you.
The default style is the balanced mode. In this mode, you can chat about various topics and get information from the web. Bing AI can also generate content in this mode, but not as creatively as you’ll get in the creative mode.
In the precise mode, the AI turns off all creative impetus and sticks to facts. This mode is useful if you’re working on research, as the tool cannot generate content in this mode.
2. Google Bard
Google Bard is also similar to ChatGPT. It’s still in the experimental stage. That’s why the platform is not yet available to the public. You can, however, still get access to the tool.
First, you must sign up to join the waitlist. When I signed up for the waitlist, I expected to get an invitation some days later. The invitation came in NINE minutes later.
While not immediately apparent, a few prompts showed that Google Bard has different modes: informative, creative, conversational, generating text, answering questions, and translating languages. The default mode is informative.
Option 4: Use a VPN
Other users have reported gaining access after turning on their VPN. If that is the case, then it seems some of the access issues are location-based.
So, if you’re getting the “ChatGPT is at capacity right now” error, turn on your VPN and refresh the page. You can also browse in incognito mode to see if that fixes things.
The same logic works when you clear your browser cache.
You can also try to gain access on your mobile by installing a Chrome extension of ChatGPT.
Option 5: Try ChatGPT Plus
ChatGPT Plus costs $20 per month. According to Open AI, the benefits include:
- Access even during ChatGPT server downtimes
- First access to new features
- Faster customer support
You can access a form of GPT-4 without paying for a monthly subscription using Bing AI chat. The only caveat is you need to browse with Microsoft Edge.
Does ChatGPT Plus have a limit?
Plus subscribers have access to GPT-4, Open AI’s latest iteration of its language model. GPT-4 accepts both text and image (graphs, worksheets) inputs. It comes with highly-improved intellectual capabilities.
The public still has free access to only GPT-3.5, the language model powering ChatGPT as most people know it.
Open AI notes that GPT-4 comes with a usage cap, presently 25 messages every three hours. Initially, it was 100 messages every four hours, but demand has forced the company’s hands.
The OpenAI community box is also littered with paid subscribers wailing that they can’t get access when ChatGPT is at capacity.
If you’re having issues as a Plus subscriber, contact the customer service at ChatGPT immediately.
Similar Tutorials to Check Out
Want to learn more about ChatGPT? We’ve handpicked three more guides to help you understand and use the OpenAI product better.
- How To Fix the ChatGPT Too Many Requests in 1 Hour Error: You may be breaking ChatGPT’s usage cap when you get this error. Learn different ways to sidestep this message.
- How To Use the ChatGPT VSCode Error: Do you want to install ChatGPT in your VsCode environment and don’t know how? This article provides step-by-step instructions on how.
- How To Use ChatGPT for SEO: ChatGPT has many use cases, including for SEO. This guide provides ways and how you can use ChatGPT for SEO.
Wrapping Up
It’s frustrating when you want to use ChatGPT to do serious work and are hit with the “ChatGPT is at capacity right now” error.
If you cannot wait for the error to clear, you can switch to alternatives like Bing AI and Google Barge, use a VPN, or browse the AI chat tool at off-peak hours.
Alternatively, you may opt to subscribe to ChatGPT Plus for priority access even during high-traffic periods.
We hope you’ve learned how to fix the “at capacity” error on ChatGPT. Kindly share and let us know if you have any questions in the comment section. We’ll reach out ASAP.
