OpenAI outage history — how often does ChatGPT go down

ChatGPT has gone down dozens of times since launch in November 2022. Major outages happen roughly once a month, with partial degradations several times per week. You can check right now whether OpenAI is having problems

OpenAI outage history — how often does ChatGPT go down

ChatGPT has gone down dozens of times since launch in November 2022. Major outages happen roughly once a month, with partial degradations several times per week. You can check right now whether OpenAI is having problems by watching our live OpenAI status monitor, which updates every 60 seconds from OpenAI's official status feed.

How to check if OpenAI is actually down

Our live status monitor pulls data directly from OpenAI's infrastructure every minute. It shows component-level status for ChatGPT, the API, Sora, and other services. Green means operational, yellow means degraded performance, red means down.

You can also check status.openai.com, OpenAI's official page. It lists current incidents and scheduled maintenance. Look at the individual components — ChatGPT web, ChatGPT mobile app, API, and specific model endpoints can fail independently. The API might work while the web interface doesn't, or vice versa.

Third-party monitoring sites like Downdetector aggregate user reports in real time. Spike graphs tell you when other people started seeing problems. Cross-reference these with our live feed and OpenAI's status page to confirm whether it's a widespread outage or a local issue on your end.

The actual outage record

OpenAI doesn't publish comprehensive uptime statistics. Based on their status page history and user reports, ChatGPT experiences major multi-hour outages approximately once per month. Partial degradations — slower responses, errors on specific features, or regional issues — happen 2-4 times per week.

The worst outages lasted 4-6 hours. These typically happened during US peak hours when load spikes hardest. November 2023 saw three separate multi-hour outages in a single week. June 2024 had a 5-hour global outage affecting all ChatGPT tiers and most API endpoints.

Shorter disruptions lasting 15-45 minutes are routine. You'll see error messages like "ChatGPT is at capacity right now" or blank response boxes. These often resolve themselves as traffic redistributes across OpenAI's infrastructure.

API users face rate limit errors (429) and timeout errors (500, 502, 503, 504) during degraded periods even when their quota isn't exhausted. If you're hitting errors consistently, check whether it's an outage or your integration — our guide on API error 429 and other API errors walks through the difference.

Is it OpenAI or is it you

Before blaming OpenAI, isolate whether the problem is local. Follow these steps in order:

  • Check our live status monitor — if components show green and you're still having problems, it's likely your setup
  • Open ChatGPT in an incognito window — this bypasses cache, cookies, and extensions
  • Clear chatgpt.com cookies and cached files — in Chrome go to Settings > Privacy and security > Clear browsing data, select "Cookies" and "Cached images", set time range to "All time"
  • Disable browser extensions, especially ad blockers and privacy tools — they can break ChatGPT's JavaScript
  • Try a different network — switch from WiFi to mobile data or disconnect your VPN
  • Test the mobile app if you're on desktop, or the web interface if you're on mobile — platform-specific bugs exist
  • Try a completely different browser — Safari vs Chrome vs Firefox handle WebSocket connections differently

If ChatGPT works in incognito mode but not your regular browser, you've got a local cache or extension problem. Our ChatGPT not working troubleshooting guide covers these scenarios in detail.

What to do during an outage

Don't panic and don't make account changes. Specifically:

  • Wait it out — most outages resolve in under an hour
  • For API users: implement exponential backoff in your retry logic — start with 1-second delays, double each retry, cap at 60 seconds
  • Queue requests instead of dropping them — store user inputs and process them when service returns
  • Don't delete your account — this won't fix anything and you'll lose your chat history
  • Don't re-subscribe — billing issues during outages just create support tickets that delay resolution
  • Don't spam the OpenAI support form — they can't individually restore service during infrastructure failures

Monitor our live status feed. When components turn green again, your next request should work.

Questions people actually ask

Q: Is ChatGPT down right now?

A: Check the live status monitor on this page. It updates every 60 seconds from OpenAI's official status feed and shows whether ChatGPT, the API, and other components are operational, degraded, or down.

Q: Does OpenAI warn users before planned maintenance?

A: Sometimes. They post scheduled maintenance on status.openai.com, usually 24-48 hours ahead. Most outages aren't planned — they're infrastructure failures or capacity issues.

Q: Which ChatGPT tier has better uptime?

A: All tiers run on the same infrastructure. Plus and Team users don't get separate servers. During capacity issues, free users might see "at capacity" messages while paid users can still access the service, but outages affect everyone.

What to remember

  • Major outages happen roughly monthly, partial degradations several times per week
  • Check our live status monitor first — it updates every 60 seconds from OpenAI's official feed
  • Component-level failures are common — the API might work when the web interface doesn't
  • Verify it's not a local problem by testing in incognito mode and on different networks
  • Never delete your account or change subscriptions during an outage — you'll just create more problems

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

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