ZDNET’s key takeaways
- OpenAI’s new GPT-5 mannequin initially changed prior fashions at launch final week.
- Because of widespread demand, OpenAI is giving customers entry to legacy fashions.
- GPT-4o is offered to ChatGPT Plus and Professional customers (with extra fashions for the latter).
The attraction of OpenAI’s highly anticipated GPT-5 model lies in its mixture of a wise mannequin for many queries and a deeper reasoning mannequin for tougher issues, and that it robotically chooses both based mostly on the consumer’s immediate. Because it technically mixed one of the best of OpenAI’s fashions, the corporate had it substitute all of its legacy fashions in ChatGPT — and customers weren’t glad.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s guardian firm, filed an April 2025 lawsuit in opposition to OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI techniques.)
Additionally: I tested GPT-5’s coding skills, and it was so bad that I’m sticking with GPT-4o (for now)
Paid subscribers, together with ChatGPT Plus and Pro customers, beforehand had entry to GPT-4o, a number of reasoning fashions, together with o3, o4-mini, and o4-mini-high, and analysis previews of GPT-4.5 and GPT-4.1. ChatGPT Professional customers had a few extra perks, equivalent to o3 professional mode. Consequently, when OpenAI eliminated entry to those fashions because it rolled out GPT-5, many subscribers’ workflows have been disturbed; some individuals even cancelled their subscriptions.
OpenAI observed the suggestions and carried out adjustments instantly. OpenAI Sam Altman stated on X, “We’ll let Plus customers select to proceed to make use of 4o. We’ll watch utilization as we take into consideration how lengthy to supply legacy fashions for.” In a separate put up, he added, “We for certain underestimated how a lot among the issues that individuals like in GPT-4o matter to them, even when GPT-5 performs higher in most methods.”
Customers can now see legacy fashions, however activating the choice requires some additional steps. Here is how you can get began.
Easy methods to entry ChatGPT’s legacy fashions
What you will want: To entry the legacy fashions, you will must subscribe to one in every of ChatGPT’s premium tiers. ChatGPT Plus prices $20 per 30 days and consists of different perks equivalent to larger utilization limits for a lot of of OpenAI’s newest options. ChatGPT Professional is supposed for tremendous customers and retails at $200 per 30 days.
Whenever you log into your ChatGPT account, you will see your subscription/account tier within the backside left-hand nook, the place your identify is displayed. If it says “Free,” you will need to click on on it and hit the “Improve plan choice.”
Additionally: Is ChatGPT Plus really worth $20 when the free version offers so many premium features?
When you do, you’ll be able to decide to subscribe to one of many larger subscription tiers: both ChatGPT Plus for $20 per 30 days or ChatGPT Professional for $200 per 30 days. You will then see a chart evaluating the plans and their perks, pictured above.
After getting a Plus or Professional account, by default, you should have the choice to toggle between GPT-5, GPT-5 Considering, and, in case you are a Professional consumer, GPT-5 Professional. Nevertheless, you even have the choice to entry legacy fashions so long as you toggle the setting on.
All you could do is click on on the underside left-hand nook along with your identify and click on Settings. Below “Normal,” which is the primary web page that comes up, toggle on “Present legacy fashions.” Then, the mannequin picker toggle will even present the “Legacy mannequin” choice.
When the “present legacy fashions” choice is toggled on, to truly use the mannequin, you simply must click on on the mannequin picker toggle, which seems while you click on the mannequin’s identify within the higher left-hand nook.
Additionally: GPT-5 bombed my coding tests, but redeemed itself with code analysis
In case you are a ChatGPT Plus consumer, you’ll be able to entry GPT-4o along with GPT-5. In case you are a Professional consumer, you’ll be able to entry your entire suite of legacy fashions, together with GPT-4o, GPT-4.5 (analysis preview), o3, o4-mini, GPT-4.1, and GPT-4.1-mini. Whichever you choose would be the one to output your response.
