With the release of the GPT-5 model in August 2025, OpenAI updated usage limits—especially for the deeper Thinking mode.

ChatGPT (web/mobile)

Notably: Manual GPT-5 Thinking usage is capped at 200 messages/week on Plus and Team. Automatic switching from GPT-5 to GPT-5 Thinking does not consume this weekly quota.

There are essentially two buckets:

• Manual Thinking requests → counted toward the 200/week.
• Automatic “think harder” escalation by GPT-5 → not counted.

What this means: if you are in standard GPT-5 and the system decides your request needs more reasoning, it will “upgrade” internally at no cost to your manual Thinking quota.

How to spot auto-switching (informal signs)

• Responses are noticeably slower (often several seconds even for short answers).
• More structured, step-by-step reasoning than you asked for.
• The Thinking badge may appear retroactively in the answer header.

Reset timing: Weekly Thinking limits reset 7 days after your first message, at 00:00 UTC on the reset day. You can see the reset date by hovering the model name in the picker.

The goal of these cheats is to reliably push deeper reasoning without burning a manual Thinking slot. If a result feels shallow, re-run it explicitly with the Thinking model to spend one of your 200 for the week.

1. Multi-Step Comparison

“Compare [Option A] and [Option B] in terms of [Factor 1], [Factor 2], and [Factor 3] over a [Timeframe]. Identify dependencies between the factors and note any edge cases where the outcome changes.”

2. Scenario Evaluation

“Given [Context/Background], evaluate possible outcomes under Scenario 1, Scenario 2, and Scenario 3. Highlight trade-offs and conditions that could cause a scenario to fail.”

3. Cross-Domain Reasoning

“From the perspective of [Domain 1] and [Domain 2], analyze how [Problem/Topic] would be approached. Identify points of agreement, disagreement, and synergy.”

4. Contradiction Check

“Examine these statements:

1. [Statement A]
2. [Statement B] Identify if they contradict, align, or are unrelated, and explain any hidden assumptions that change the answer.”

5. Root Cause & Mitigation

“Given the problem [Describe Issue], break down the likely root causes in priority order, then propose mitigations for each cause. Indicate where further data is needed to choose between solutions.”

6. Decision Framework

“For the decision [Describe Decision], evaluate using these criteria: [Criterion 1], [Criterion 2], [Criterion 3]. Score each option on a consistent scale and justify the scoring.”

Cheatsheet — Triggering Auto-Thinking Without the Toggle