Custom GPTs Are Retiring: What to Use Instead

What's changing, and when

According to OpenAI's custom GPT retirement and migration FAQ, "For affected Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral, the retirement date is Feb 11, 2027." Everyone else plans around Dec 11, 2026. "The transition affects all ChatGPT plans. Migration and plugin access may differ by account or workspace." Follow the notice in your own account.

Until then, "Existing GPTs remain usable until the retirement date." Your old chats survive too. OpenAI says "Your existing conversations with custom GPTs will remain accessible after retirement." The GPTs themselves don't. "At the applicable retirement date, custom GPTs and their GPT pages become inaccessible."

If you're on a personal plan, you may have already noticed you can't build a new one. OpenAI's Troubleshooting GPTs page says "New GPT creation is not available on personal ChatGPT accounts, including Free, Go, Plus, and Pro."

Your two options: a plugin or a Project

OpenAI's answer is plugins. "Instead of custom GPTs, we recommend moving your workflows to Plugins." If you created the GPT, "go to My GPTs and select Migrate to plugin" once migration is available for your account. The GPT's instructions become a skill, its knowledge files become reference files, and connected apps come along as apps. "The GPT's selected model does not carry over." Neither do custom actions. The migration uses your latest published version, so drafts stay behind. The plugin starts private, and the original GPT becomes read-only.

The other option is a ChatGPT Project. It isn't OpenAI's migration path. It's a practical fallback you can set up today. OpenAI's Projects page says "Projects keep related chats, files, and instructions together," and "access to projects is included with every qualifying ChatGPT plan."

If your GPT was mostly saved instructions plus a few reference files for your own repeat work, a Project covers it. If it ran custom actions or served people outside your account, look at the plugin.

Save what your GPT knows first

Do this before you migrate or switch anything.

1. Copy the full instructions into a document you control.
2. Download the knowledge files.
3. List any connected apps and custom actions.
4. Save a few familiar prompts so you can compare results later.

That last one matters. OpenAI suggests the same thing. Without it you're judging the replacement on memory.

If the GPT was one step in a bigger routine, write that routine down too. How to Turn One AI Task Into a Repeatable Workflow shows how.

Set up a ChatGPT Project in five steps

1. Select New project in the sidebar. Name it, then pick an icon and color.
2. Add your files. Projects take PDFs, spreadsheets, docs, images or pasted text. Limits per project are Free 5, Go and Plus 25, and Edu, Pro, Business and Enterprise 40, with "only 10 files" uploaded at the same time.
3. Open the ••• menu, select Project settings, and paste your GPT's instructions. "Project instructions apply only within that project and override your global custom instructions."
4. Choose the memory setting under Project settings. Default memory or project-only memory.
5. Run the familiar prompts you saved. Compare the answers with the old GPT's.

If the answers are close enough, you're done. If not, tighten the instructions and test again.

What a Project won't do

A Project doesn't run custom actions. And "Chats created with a GPT can't be moved into a project," so old GPT conversations stay where they are. Sharing limits depend on your plan.

It's a fallback, not a clone.

For a one-person shop with one repeat job, that's often enough. For anything wired into other systems, plan the plugin route and give it time to test.

Next steps

The Small Business AI Kit ($39) is a practical implementation kit for putting AI to work across planning, customer research, operations, and everyday decisions. It's a good next step once your Project is set up.

Still deciding which of your repeat jobs belong in a Project, a plugin or neither? Sort them one at a time before you build anything.

New to all of this? Start with How to Start Using AI in Your Small Business Without a Consultant. Then go back to How to Turn One AI Task Into a Repeatable Workflow. Both are on the Kit & File guides page. Less content. More use.