If you landed here, ChatGPT probably froze mid answer, refused to load, or kept spinning without a reply. That is frustrating, especially when you are in the middle of something. The good news is that most of these problems are quick to diagnose, and many of them are fixable in under a minute from your own device. Below is a calm, practical walk through what usually goes wrong and how to get back to work.
Common reasons ChatGPT stops working
The ChatGPT you use at chatgpt.com is a different product from the OpenAI API, and its own features can fail one at a time. Matching what you are seeing to the right part of ChatGPT is the fastest way to tell a real outage from a limit or a local problem.
- A usage limit, not an outage. Messages like “You’ve reached your limit” or “Too many requests” are per-account caps on the newer models, image generation or other advanced features. They reset after a waiting period and are not a sign the service is down.
- The OpenAI API is separate. The developer API (platform.openai.com) has its own status. If your app’s API calls are failing, the ChatGPT consumer app can still be perfectly healthy, and the reverse is also true.
- Sign-in and Conversations are distinct. A login or session problem can lock you out while other people chat normally, and the Conversations service itself can stall while sign-in works.
- Search, GPTs and image generation each stand alone. Web search, custom GPTs and image generation are separate features. One can be degraded while plain chat is fine, which is why the component list on this page is worth checking.
- Your side of the connection. An unstable network, a stale browser session, an ad blocker or a VPN that routes you through a rate-limited location can all make ChatGPT look broken when the service is up.
How to fix ChatGPT when it is not working
Work through these steps in order. Most people are back up within the first two or three.
- Hard refresh the page. Reload with the cache bypassed (Ctrl and F5 on Windows, or Cmd, Shift and R on a Mac). This alone clears many stalls.
- Open a private or incognito window. This loads ChatGPT with no extensions and no stored data, which quickly tells you whether your normal browser profile is the problem.
- Sign out and sign back in. Refreshing your session fixes a surprising number of login loops and frozen chats.
- Clear your cache and cookies. If a private window worked, clearing stored data in your main browser usually makes the fix permanent.
- Switch networks. Move from Wi Fi to mobile data, or the other way around. If it works on one network but not the other, the issue is your connection or local network.
- Disable extensions and turn off your VPN. Temporarily switch off ad blockers, privacy add ons, and any VPN or proxy, then reload.
- Restart the app or device. On mobile, fully close the app and reopen it, or reinstall it if it stays stuck. A full device restart clears lingering glitches.
- Wait out rate limits. If you are seeing a usage or limit message, pause for a few minutes. These caps reset on their own, and hammering the send button only extends the wait.
Is ChatGPT down, or is it just you?
Telling the difference is straightforward once you know what to check. Start with this page: the live verdict and the recent reports above this article reflect real signals, so if there is a widespread problem it will show up here. Next, open a private window and try again. If it loads there, the issue is something in your normal browser, not the service. Finally, try a different network. If ChatGPT works on mobile data but not your home Wi Fi, the problem is local to that connection.
If all three point the same way, you have your answer. A wider outage means the only sensible move is to wait, while a local issue means one of the fixes above will sort it out. For a calm, step by step approach that applies to any AI tool, see our guide on what to do when an AI tool is down.
How we check ChatGPT
We determine ChatGPT’s status from two signals rather than one. We read ChatGPT’s official status page, and we also run our own independent reachability check against the service from the outside. Combining both means we catch problems even when one source is slow to update, and it keeps the verdict honest. You can read more about how this works on our methodology page.
Alternatives to ChatGPT during an outage
If ChatGPT is genuinely down and you cannot wait, a few other assistants can usually pick up the slack. Claude is strong for writing, reasoning, and longer documents. Gemini is a solid general purpose option, especially if you already use Google tools. DeepSeek is another capable choice worth keeping on hand. Each has its own status page on this site, so you can confirm it is healthy before you switch over.
Keeping one or two backups bookmarked means a single outage never fully blocks you. If you want a deeper look at the specific causes and fixes for this service, read our full guide on why ChatGPT is not working. For most people, though, the quick checks above resolve things long before any of that is needed, and you can get back to whatever you were doing.
How ChatGPT Outages Usually Show Up
ChatGPT runs as a web app at the OpenAI site and as iOS and Android apps, all sharing one OpenAI account login that may use SSO for Enterprise seats. When something breaks, the most common signs are a red “Something went wrong” banner, replies that stall mid-stream and never finish, conversations that fail to load in the sidebar, or a “Too many requests” message when you hit the rate limits on the Free and Plus tiers. Image generation and file uploads tend to fail independently of plain text chat, so you can sometimes send messages while attachments error out.
It helps to know that the ChatGPT product and the OpenAI API are tracked separately. The developer platform and API can be degraded while the consumer apps work, or the reverse, so a problem in your own app integration does not always mean ChatGPT itself is down. The verdict at the top of this page reflects the consumer ChatGPT product specifically.