OpenAI to retire custom GPTs on Dec 11, 2026 and migrate them to plugins
The GPT Store is phased out
Partly confirmed
The takeaway
On Sept 11, 2026 OpenAI told ChatGPT Enterprise admins that custom GPTs, introduced in Nov 2023, will be retired on Dec 11, 2026 (Feb 11, 2027 for Enterprise workspaces with an approved deferral) and replaced by plugins that work across ChatGPT and Codex.
Status
- Claim
Partly confirmed
- Our reporting
- Medium confidence
- Importance
- 3 of 5
- Last verified
- 11 October 2026
Your AI and this story
- GPT-6 Astra134 days after its cutoff
- Claude Opus 5.573 days after its cutoff
- Gemini 3.8 Flash164 days after its cutoff
- Grok 4.7103 days after its cutoff
None of these four assistants can know about it. The closest, Claude Opus 5.5, stops 73 days before it.
Key facts
- Notice to Enterprise admins and ChatGPT release notes: Sept 11, 2026; migration tool targeted for Sept 17; retirement Dec 11, 2026; approved Enterprise deferrals to Feb 11, 2027 (Mixed, Virtualization Review)
- End of new custom GPT creation for Enterprise: reported as Sept 25 (Mixed, Sept 18) and as Oct 26, 2026 (Virtualization Review, Sept 28); Free, Plus and Pro follow ‘a similar timeline’ with in-product notice
- Migration: My GPTs → ‘Migrate to plugin’. Instructions become a skill, knowledge files become reference files, connected apps can be included; the new plugin starts private
- Not migrated: custom actions (must be rebuilt as connectors or MCP servers), selected model, conversation starters, capability settings, sharing settings and existing conversations; prior users get no automatic access
- OpenAI warns ‘a migrated plugin may respond differently’, so builders must retest prompts, file use, output formats and integrations
- GPT Store: the GPT directory is phased out as GPTs retire; migrated links should redirect to the replacement plugins for authorized users (Mixed)
- Context: at DevDay (Sept 29) OpenAI added plugin extensions with sidebar homes, panels and file viewers, a Plugin Creator and MCP Events support
What happened
OpenAI is folding custom GPTs, its 2023 way for users to package instructions, files and actions, into the newer plugin system shared with Codex. Migration is one click for the simple parts, but API actions and sharing have to be rebuilt. The OpenAI help article was not readable by our fetcher (403), so dates come from press summaries of it, which disagree on when Enterprise stops new GPT creation.
Why it matters
It ends the GPT Store experiment and makes skills, plugins and MCP the common way to extend ChatGPT and Codex, like the plugin and skill systems at other labs. Every existing GPT must be migrated or will disappear by December.
Sources
5 sources from 5 sites. Numbers match the chips in the text.
5 sources: 1 primary, 3 press, 1 reaction
Primary
- OpenAI Help Center: Custom GPT retirement and migration FAQhelp.openai.com, docs
Press
- Virtualization Review: OpenAI to retire custom GPTs, replace them with plugins (Sept 28)virtualizationreview.com, press
- Visual Studio Magazine: Hands-on with OpenAI’s mandatory custom GPT-to-plugin migration (Sept 28)visualstudiomagazine.com, press
- Mixed: OpenAI is retiring custom GPTs, here’s what carries over to plugins (Sept 18)mixed-news.com, press
Reactions
- OpenAI Developer Community: custom GPT → plugin migration raises access concernscommunity.openai.com, discussion
Changes
- Filed
