ChatGPT down right now?

If ChatGPT isn't loading or you're seeing error messages, you need to know within 30 seconds whether it's a widespread outage or something on your end. Check the [live OpenAI status](/status) monitor on this page first —

ChatGPT down right now?

If ChatGPT isn't loading or you're seeing error messages, you need to know within 30 seconds whether it's a widespread outage or something on your end. Check the live OpenAI status monitor on this page first — it updates every 60 seconds from OpenAI's official feed and shows you exactly which services are affected.

How to check if OpenAI is actually down

Start with our live OpenAI status tracker at the top of this site. It pulls data directly from status.openai.com every minute and breaks down each component separately: ChatGPT web interface, API, Sora, and authentication services. If you see a red indicator next to "ChatGPT" with the word "Major Outage" or "Partial Outage", OpenAI has confirmed problems on their end.

Head to status.openai.com yourself for the official incident timeline. OpenAI posts updates there during outages, usually within 5-10 minutes of detecting issues. You'll see timestamps, affected services, and estimated resolution times. They colour-code everything: green means operational, yellow means degraded performance, orange means partial outage, and red means major outage.

Check Twitter/X by searching "ChatGPT down" and filtering by "Latest" posts from the past 15 minutes. If hundreds of people are reporting the same error code or timeout behaviour you're seeing, it's almost certainly an outage. Look for patterns — if everyone mentions error 1020 or "network error" at the same time, that's your confirmation.

Is it OpenAI or is it you

Open chatgpt.com in an incognito or private browsing window. Press Ctrl+Shift+N in Chrome, Cmd+Shift+N in Safari, or Ctrl+Shift+P in Firefox. If ChatGPT works there but not in your regular browser, you've got a local cache or cookie problem.

Clear your browser data specifically for chatgpt.com. In Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data > Time range: All time > tick "Cookies" and "Cached images" > Clear data. In Safari: Safari menu > Settings > Privacy > Manage Website Data > search "chatgpt.com" > Remove. In Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Manage Data > search "chatgpt.com" > Remove Selected.

Disable all browser extensions temporarily. Type chrome://extensions in Chrome's address bar or about:addons in Firefox. Toggle every extension off, then reload chatgpt.com. VPN extensions, ad blockers, and privacy tools frequently break ChatGPT's WebSocket connections.

Try a different network entirely. Switch from WiFi to mobile data on your phone, or vice versa. Corporate and university networks often block WebSocket traffic on port 443, which ChatGPT requires. If it works on mobile data but not WiFi, talk to your network administrator.

Test the official ChatGPT mobile app (iOS or Android) versus the browser. If the app works but the browser doesn't, you've narrowed it down to browser-specific settings. If both fail, check the live OpenAI status again — outages usually affect all platforms simultaneously.

For API users, check your error logs for specific HTTP status codes. A 503 or 529 means OpenAI's servers are overloaded. Error 429 means you've hit rate limits — see OpenAI API error 429 and other API errors for details. Connection timeouts with no HTTP status code suggest network problems on your end.

What to do during an outage

Wait 15-30 minutes before trying again. Most ChatGPT outages resolve within this window. OpenAI's engineering team prioritises user-facing services, and they post updates to status.openai.com as soon as they have information.

For API developers: implement exponential backoff immediately if you haven't already. After a failed request, wait 1 second. If it fails again, wait 2 seconds, then 4, then 8, up to a maximum of 60 seconds. Add 20% random jitter to prevent thundering herd problems when the service recovers. Queue your requests rather than dropping them — users prefer delayed responses to failed requests.

Don't cancel your ChatGPT Plus or Team subscription during an outage. You won't get a partial refund, and you'll lose your subscription benefits immediately. OpenAI's terms don't include uptime guarantees or service credits for consumer accounts.

Don't email or chat with OpenAI support about outages — they can't do anything individual users can't already see on status.openai.com. Save support contact for account-specific issues. See How to contact OpenAI support for when it's actually appropriate to reach out.

Don't delete and recreate your account. This won't fix an outage and you'll lose your conversation history permanently. For broader ChatGPT troubleshooting, see ChatGPT not working — troubleshooting.

Questions people actually ask

Q: Is ChatGPT down right now?

A: Check the live OpenAI status monitor on this page — it updates every 60 seconds. If ChatGPT shows green/operational but you're still having problems, work through the incognito browser and cache-clearing steps above.

Q: How long do ChatGPT outages usually last?

A: Most resolve in 15-45 minutes. Major incidents affecting authentication or core infrastructure can last 2-4 hours. OpenAI posts updates every 30-60 minutes during active incidents on status.openai.com.

Q: Will I get a refund if ChatGPT is down?

A: No. ChatGPT Plus and Team subscriptions don't include uptime SLAs or service credits. OpenAI's terms state the service is provided "as is" for consumer accounts. Enterprise customers negotiate separate agreements.

Q: Can I check API status separately from ChatGPT?

A: Yes — status.openai.com and our live monitor break out each service component. The API often stays up when ChatGPT web experiences issues, and vice versa.

What to remember

  • Check our live status monitor first — it updates every 60 seconds from OpenAI's official feed
  • Test in incognito mode and clear chatgpt.com cookies and cache to rule out browser issues
  • Try a different network (mobile data vs WiFi) to check for network-level blocks
  • Wait 15-30 minutes during confirmed outages — most resolve quickly
  • Don't cancel subscriptions or contact support during widespread outages — neither helps

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*openai-support.com is an independent resource, not affiliated with OpenAI Inc.*

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