OpenAI outage history — how often does ChatGPT go down

ChatGPT has gone down roughly once every three weeks since launch in November 2022, with most outages lasting 15-90 minutes. You'll know it's actually down when you see "ChatGPT is at capacity right now" or constant 500/

OpenAI outage history — how often does ChatGPT go down

ChatGPT has gone down roughly once every three weeks since launch in November 2022, with most outages lasting 15-90 minutes. You'll know it's actually down when you see "ChatGPT is at capacity right now" or constant 500/502 errors across multiple devices — check the live OpenAI status monitor to confirm within seconds.

How to check if OpenAI is actually down

This site's live OpenAI status monitor updates every 60 seconds from OpenAI's official feed and shows real-time performance for ChatGPT, the API, Sora and other services. Green means operational, yellow means degraded, red means down. If you're seeing errors but the status shows green, the problem is probably on your end.

OpenAI's own status page at status.openai.com breaks down each component separately — ChatGPT can be down while the API runs fine, or vice versa. During major outages, you'll see a banner at the top of chatgpt.com itself. Third-party sites like Downdetector show user-submitted reports, which spike within minutes of an actual outage, but they also capture local network issues and user errors, so treat them as supporting evidence, not proof.

Major incidents get listed in the "Incident History" section at status.openai.com with timestamps, affected services and root cause summaries. OpenAI typically posts a postmortem for any outage lasting over two hours or affecting a significant percentage of users.

Is it OpenAI or is it you

Before assuming ChatGPT is down, test these in order:

  • Open an incognito window — press Ctrl+Shift+N (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+N (Mac) in Chrome, navigate to chatgpt.com and try logging in. If it works here but not in your normal browser, you've got a cache or extension problem.
  • Clear chatgpt.com cookies and cache — in Chrome, press F12, right-click the refresh button, select "Empty Cache and Hard Reload". In Firefox, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Cookies and Site Data > Manage Data, search for "chatgpt.com" and remove all entries.
  • Disable every browser extension — especially VPNs, ad blockers and privacy tools. Extensions that block tracking scripts can break ChatGPT's authentication. Re-enable them one by one to find the culprit.
  • Try a different network — switch from Wi-Fi to mobile data or vice versa. Some corporate and school networks block chatgpt.com or platform.openai.com. If it works on mobile data, your network is the problem.
  • Test the mobile app vs browser — download the official ChatGPT app for iOS or Android. If the app works but the website doesn't, it's a browser or network issue. If neither works, it's probably OpenAI.
  • Check on a different device entirely — your laptop, phone, tablet. Consistent failures across all devices and networks usually mean an actual outage.

For detailed troubleshooting beyond these steps, see ChatGPT not working — troubleshooting.

What to do during an outage

If it's confirmed down, here's your action plan:

  • Do nothing and wait — most ChatGPT outages resolve in under an hour. OpenAI's engineering team knows before you report it.
  • For API users, implement exponential backoff — if you're getting 500 or 503 errors, retry with delays of 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s, capping at 60s. Don't hammer the API every second. Queue requests locally and process them when service resumes.
  • Don't cancel your subscription — your Plus or Team plan doesn't cause outages and cancelling won't fix anything. You're still subject to the same downtime whether you pay or not.
  • Don't spam support — OpenAI's support team can't restore service faster during a platform-wide outage. Save your support requests for account-specific issues. See how to contact OpenAI support for when it's actually appropriate.

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. Green components mean operational, yellow means degraded performance, red means down.

Q: What was the longest ChatGPT outage?

A: The longest recorded outage was approximately 6 hours in June 2023, affecting both ChatGPT and the API. Most outages last 15-90 minutes.

Q: Does OpenAI announce outages in advance?

A: Planned maintenance is rare and gets announced on status.openai.com at least 24 hours ahead. Most downtime is unplanned due to traffic spikes, infrastructure issues or API backend problems.

Q: Do Plus subscribers get priority during outages?

A: Plus subscribers get priority access during high-traffic periods when free users see capacity messages, but during full outages, nobody can access the service regardless of subscription tier.

What to remember

  • ChatGPT averages one outage every 3 weeks, typically lasting 15-90 minutes
  • Check this site's live status monitor and status.openai.com before troubleshooting locally
  • Test incognito mode, clear cache, disable extensions and try different networks to rule out local issues
  • API users should implement exponential backoff and request queueing, not constant retries
  • Don't cancel subscriptions, delete accounts or spam support during platform-wide outages

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

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