ChatGPT's Projects Feature Now Available to Free Users: Enhancing Organization and Functionality

Use free ChatGPT? You just got a powerful projects upgrade once exclusive to paid users

Updates also include larger file uploads, memory controls, more. Since its popularity exploded, ChatGPT has undergone many upgrades, including a sleek UI redesign. However, one terribly pesky thing that has remained the same for free users is how chats are organized, automatically populating the left-hand bar with no real organization options -- until now. Also: ChatGPT speak is creeping into our everyday language - here's why it matters During its 12 Days of OpenAI holiday campaign, the company launched a Projects feature, which helps users organize and customize their chats in ChatGPT. However, at the time, the feature was only available to Plus, Pro, and Teams users, with the company claiming it was coming to free users as soon as possible. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Nine months later, that day has arrived, with Projects being rolled out to free users starting today. Each Project serves as a hub, or as OpenAI calls it, "a smart workspace" for your chats and the content you want the chat to reference. When creating a Project, you can include a title, a customized folder color, relevant project files, and custom instructions for ChatGPT on how it can best help you with the project in one place. So, for example, if you are a student, you could start a red folder named "Intro to Machine Learning," upload your notes, PDFs, PowerPoint, and other class materials, instruct it to answer each question you input in the workspace as if it were a tutor, and then ask away. It can then answer your questions using your context in a regular chat format. Also: How OpenAI is reworking ChatGPT after landmark wrongful death lawsuit You can also add previous chats from the sidebar to your Project. The chats can be saved in the Project, making it easier to pick up your conversations later and know exactly what to look for where. Beyond becoming available to free users, Projects also got some other helpful updates, including larger file uploads per project, the ability to select colors and icons for a clearer distinction, and project-only memory controls. The file upload limits vary per the plan you have, with up to five for Free users, 25 for Plus, and 40 for Pro, Business, and Enterprise accounts. OpenAI shares that the update is live on the web and Android and will roll out to iOS users over the coming days. Of course, all the users who could previously access it will continue to be able to do so. Also: ChatGPT is reportedly scraping Google Search data to answer your questions - here's how To launch the feature, just click on "Projects" on top of the chat history on the left-hand bar and you should be set.

Free ChatGPT users just got a powerful Project upgrade to better organize their chats

Updates also include larger file uploads, memory controls, and more. Since its popularity exploded, ChatGPT has undergone many upgrades, including a sleek UI redesign. However, one terribly pesky thing that has remained the same for free users is how chats are organized, automatically populating the left-hand bar with no real organization options -- until now. Also: ChatGPT speak is creeping into our everyday language - here's why it matters During its 12 Days of OpenAI holiday campaign, the company launched a Projects feature, which helps users organize and customize their chats in ChatGPT. However, at the time, the feature was only available to Plus, Pro, and Teams users, with the company claiming it was coming to free users as soon as possible. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Nine months later, that day has arrived, with Projects being rolled out to free users starting today. Each Project serves as a hub, or as OpenAI calls it, "a smart workspace" for your chats and the content you want the chat to reference. When creating a Project, you can include a title, a customized folder color, relevant project files, and custom instructions for ChatGPT on how it can best help you with the project in one place. So, for example, if you are a student, you could start a red folder named "Intro to Machine Learning," upload your notes, PDFs, PowerPoint, and other class materials, instruct it to answer each question you input in the workspace as if it were a tutor, and then ask away. It can then answer your questions using your context in a regular chat format. Also: How OpenAI is reworking ChatGPT after landmark wrongful death lawsuit You can also add previous chats from the sidebar to your Project. The chats can be saved in the Project, making it easier to pick up your conversations later and know exactly what to look for where. Beyond becoming available to free users, Projects also got some other helpful updates, including larger file uploads per project, the ability to select colors and icons for a clearer distinction, and project-only memory controls. The file upload limits vary per the plan you have, with up to five for Free users, 25 for Plus, and 40 for Pro, Business, and Enterprise accounts. OpenAI said that the update is live on the web and Android and will roll out to iOS users over the coming days. Of course, all the users who could previously access it will continue to be able to do so. Also: ChatGPT is reportedly scraping Google Search data to answer your questions - here's how To launch the feature, just click on "Projects" on top of the chat history on the left-hand bar and you should be set.

OpenAI rolls out ChatGPT Projects to free users

OpenAI that it's making its Projects feature available to free users of ChatGPT. Projects let you organize chats with the company's AI assistant around a specific subject, and were previously one of several privileges only enjoyed by paid subscribers. While on some level Projects are glorified folders for ChatGPT conversations, the ability to set custom instructions for how the AI responds or limit what information and files it can reference, makes the feature a useful option for power users. As part of this rollout, OpenAI is also increasing the number of files that can be added to a project for ChatGPT to reference. Free users can upload five, Plus subscribers can upload 25 and Pro subscribers can upload 40. Whether you pay for ChatGPT or not, you'll also be able to customize the color and icon for your project, too. OpenAI has made a habit of slowly trickling down paid features to its free users over the last few years. Things like and started off as exclusives for the company's subscribers before becoming available to everyone. Offering a formerly premium feature with limits is itself a way to get free customers to become paid ones. OpenAI's decision to make the recently released available to everyone at launch, but with harsher limits on how many times free users can use it follows a similar logic. Projects are available for free users on the web and in the ChatGPT app for Android. OpenAI says the iOS ChatGPT app will receive the feature "over the coming days."

3 ways ChatGPT's free Projects feature upgrades your daily routine

OpenAI has opened up ChatGPT Projects to the free tier, bringing the organizational options of the feature to all users. Anyone can now create little compartments inside ChatGPT and upload up to five files to it, as well as set up custom instructions for conversations in the Project, and even give it a unique color and icon. I've long used Projects, and found more than a few opportunities to use the feature to improve my experience with ChatGPT. Here are three potential ways anyone can employ Projects to a similar effect. I always used to want to make a perfectly curated list of books to read and movies to watch, but I often end up ignoring it for reruns of old favorites and whatever the algorithm suggests. Same with books. But an experiment with Projects led to me uploading some of the lists I've randomly made for both, which resulted in a nicely organized to-do list. I then enhanced it by setting up a custom instruction for ChatGPT that said: "Be my book and movie club friend who remembers where I left off and suggests new stuff only if I ask." Now, when I'm deciding what to read before bed or want a weekend movie pick, I open that Project and can get right to where I left off and even get more suggestions. As for a starting prompt, once you've put in your files and set up the custom instructions, you can simply ask, "I've uploaded my current reads and watchlist. Where did I leave off in each? Give me a recap, then suggest what fits my vibe tonight: something funny but not dumb." You can riff from there: "Summarize the last two chapters" or "Remind me why I even started this book," for instance. My wife and I love to share ideas for activities with each other and then exchange photos and memories of those events. We always end up forgetting to go to some we were excited about and never really put together proper albums for those fun weekends, though. That's all changed since I made a ChatGPT Project called "Family Fall Stuff." I've uploaded photos of us at past events and even some lists of the kinds of activities we like, and set up a custom instruction telling the AI to "be my family memory assistant and help me find what we liked last year so I can do it again." When I revisit the Project next year, ChatGPT will remember which farm had the caramel apples, what day my toddler took a nap in the wheelbarrow, and which recipe we used for the best apple pie. I haven't tried, but the AI even suggested it could make for a real nostalgia bot if I upload voice memos from the events, packing lists, or just goofy quotes we laughed at during the day. Then I could ask it to "Plan a similar trip this year based on what we liked," or "Suggest a memory book layout using these images." So often I'll see something made in a cooking show or in a book and think that I should make it, yet rarely do I follow through. Setting up a ChatGPT Project called "Meals to try" has changed things for me. I started by uploading some favorite recipes, including screenshots and PDFs, and a list of what is usually in my fridge and pantry. I then made a custom instruction telling the AI to "Be my home cooking guide who remembers what I like and what I want to try." Now I can just open the Project to remind myself what I've made recently and what I've told myself to try next. Instead of wandering through random recipes like a lost garlic clove, I've got a focused culinary co-pilot. For instance, I might ask ChatGPT in the project, "Based on the recent recipes I uploaded and a limited amount of time to cook, suggest a weeknight meal I can make with what's probably in my fridge." From there, you can say, "Give me a grocery list for two of these," "Rewrite this recipe in a way that sounds encouraging," or "Turn this into a one-pan meal." None of these are necessarily earth-shattering hacks. But they are a useful way to improve how you use ChatGPT. Projects give your requests to the AI a helpful structure, like drawers in a mental filing cabinet. And because the memory from Projects doesn't bleed into your other chats, you don't get misplaced recommendations from other conversations. It's just the AI with practical context and without chaos.

You Can Now Create Projects in ChatGPT Without Paying for a Subscription

The free tier can upload five files, while Plus users can upload 25 files OpenAI, on Wednesday, announced the expansion of ChatGPT's Projects feature to all users. First released in December 2024, the feature has been available so far only to paid subscribers. The feature allows users to create chat folders, allowing users to segregate questions about a specific topic. Now, even the users on the free tier of the chatbot platform can access Projects. However, they will face lower rate limits compared to paid users. The San Francisco-based AI firm has also introduced a new memory-control feature that dictates whether a project can access memories from outside chats or not. ChatGPT Free Users Can Upload a Maximum of Five Files In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the official handle of OpenAI announced that all users can now access Projects. Currently, the feature has been rolled out to the website and the Android app, while the iOS app will get it in the coming days. The company also announced new rate limits, which lets users on the free tier to upload a maximum of five files. On the other hand, ChatGPT Plus subscribers can upload 25 files, and ChatGPT Pro users can upload up to 40 files in a single Project. The Enterprise and Business tiers have the same limits as ChatGPT Pro subscribers. The web user interface for Projects in ChatGPT ChatGPT's Projects feature is a segregated chat folder where users can upload files, add custom instructions, and have conversations about a specific topic. ChatGPT retains the memory of everything mentioned inside a Project, and users do not have to repeat the same instruction when a new session is started. The responses can also be grounded in their uploaded files. Projects keep chats, files, and custom instructions in one place. Users can leverage the feature to keep track of ongoing tasks, or just to ensure that their work remains tidy. Two new features have also been added. The folder icon next to the Project's name can be customised with eight different colours, including Black, Blue, Green, Orange, Pink, Purple, and Red. The folder icon can also be replaced with multiple other icons based on the topic. The second feature is a new memory control tool. When users tap on the Projects icon from the left side margin on the website or from the side panel in the app, they will now see a new option for this setting. On the app, it is available at the bottom via a button labelled "More options," and on the website, it can be accessed via the settings icon at the top. The new tool has two options. First is the default option where the chatbot can access memories from outside chats, and vice versa. The second option is dubbed Project-only, and it ensures that information bleed does not occur either from the Project to outside, or the other way around.

ChatGPT Projects explained: Everything you need to know to get started

OpenAI has been steadily expanding what you can do inside ChatGPT, and one of the most promising features is Projects. Instead of each conversation existing in isolation, Projects act like a home base for your work, letting you group chats, files, and tools together in one place. For anyone using ChatGPT seriously, whether for work, study, or creative side hustles, Projects can transform how you organize and build with AI. Also read: OpenAI makes ChatGPT Projects available to free users, adds new features Yes. Projects are a built-in feature within ChatGPT, introduced to give users a more structured way to work with the model. Think of it as a dedicated workspace: you can create a Project, add multiple chats under it, upload reference files, and even connect APIs or tools depending on your plan. Instead of juggling dozens of separate conversations or manually re-feeding context every time, Projects keep things persistent. That means your AI assistant can "remember" the context of that specific project, whether it's a coding task, a research document, or a startup idea you're developing. This structured environment ensures ChatGPT stays on-topic, whether you're brainstorming, researching, or writing without losing context when you switch devices. Projects shine by bringing context, structure, and continuity to your AI workflows. Here's how you can make the most of them: These improvements mean your Project becomes a true repository and command center, ideal for iterative work, ongoing editing, or multi-step problem-solving. Also read: Google to the rescue? Apple may use Gemini to power improved Siri Yes; as of September 3, 2025, OpenAI has officially opened the Projects feature to free-tier users globally. Previously restricted to paid plans, Projects are now accessible on web and Android immediately, with an iOS rollout to follow soon. This update significantly expands access to one of the platform's most powerful organizational tools, broadening opportunities for students, freelancers, and curious hobbyists alike That said, for anyone juggling complex tasks, the upgrades make Projects even more indispensable. With Projects now accessible to free users and bolstered by custom uploads, memory controls, and visual organization, ChatGPT has taken a huge step toward becoming a truly versatile AI workspace. Whether you're coding, studying, writing, or planning, Projects gives you the structure and context to work smarter, not harder.