How to delete ChatGPT account: OpenAI’s steps, and what follows

Before you delete: the options OpenAI lists first

OpenAI’s article, which showed “Updated: 5 hours ago” when we read it, begins by saying account deletion is permanent and that you may not need it. To stop paying it points to the page on cancelling a ChatGPT subscription, to change an email address or sign-in method it points to its page on that, and to remove a conversation it points to the page on deleting and archiving chats. The site has two pages on those: cancelling ChatGPT, which says that deleting the account is not needed to stop charges, and deleting your history.

Two checks come before the button. If you have a subscription billed through the Apple App Store or Google Play, OpenAI says that deleting the account does not cancel an Apple subscription, so cancel it first. And if the email address of your OpenAI account is also used for an Ads account, OpenAI says deletion may prevent you from accessing or managing it and may not pause or cancel active campaigns, which could keep serving and accruing charges; it says to pause or end the campaigns, make sure another authorised user can reach the Ads account, or contact Support if you are the only one with access.

The steps, on the web and in the app

On the web, OpenAI’s steps are: sign in to ChatGPT, open your account menu and select Settings, select Account, and next to Delete account select Delete. Then enter your account email or phone number, type DELETE when prompted and select Permanently delete my account.

In the app, the article lists two flows. In the first you open your account settings, select Data controls and then Delete account; with an active Apple subscription there is a warning and a Manage subscriptions button to cancel it before continuing. In the second you open Settings from your profile menu, select Data controls and then Delete OpenAI account, which older app versions call Delete Account. In both you review the confirmation, and follow any sign-in or verification prompts. If the app returns to your chats without a deletion confirmation, or you cannot finish the mobile flow, OpenAI says to use the Privacy Portal, and that completing a sign-in prompt by itself does not confirm that the account was deleted.

When you cannot sign in, and for work accounts

For an account you cannot open, OpenAI says to go to the Privacy Portal, select Make a Privacy Request, select I have a consumer ChatGPT account, then Delete my ChatGPT account, and follow the verification steps. You must be able to verify the email address or phone number already linked to the account; if you cannot, or a deactivated phone-only account cannot complete verification, it says to contact OpenAI Support for an ownership review.

Self-service deletion is not available in ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, Edu or ChatGPT for Healthcare workspaces; OpenAI says to contact your organization. Coursiv, a blog, gives the same advice for a work or school account: ask the administrator which controls apply.

What happens afterwards

OpenAI says deletion prevents you from using the account to access its services, including ChatGPT and the API, and that it deletes your data within 30 days, except that it may retain a limited set longer where required or permitted by law. Deleted chats are removed within 30 days unless they were already de-identified and disassociated from your account or must be kept for security or legal reasons. Memory controls depend on your account; for personal accounts, eligible content may be used to improve models depending on your settings.

The article answers several questions that people ask next. A deleted account cannot be reactivated, but you can create a new account with the same email address after 30 days, if the prior account was fully deleted and not deactivated. A phone number can verify the first API key for up to three accounts, and deleting an account does not reset that limit. Deleting the account does not let you change your sign-in method; if you signed up with Google, Apple or Microsoft you may be able to add a password under Settings, Security and login. For the message “You do not have an account because it has been deleted or deactivated”, OpenAI says a self-deleted account cannot be restored, and that waiting 30 days does not reactivate a deactivated one.

What the guides add

Coursiv published its guide on 18 August 2026. It adds advice that is not in OpenAI’s article: export anything you are allowed to keep, make sure the account is not the only administrator for a workspace or related service, and, if the control is missing, refresh the page and try a private browser window. Proton, whose page is dated 2 June 2026, walks through deleting, cancelling and exporting, and its site lists its own AI assistant, Lumo; we take its steps as secondary to OpenAI’s.

A question on Stack Exchange, asked on 13 February 2026, describes the case behind one of the people-also-ask boxes: after typing DELETE in the confirmation box, the button stayed “Locked”. An answer there says it looks like a failure of the web app and should be reported to OpenAI; this is a user’s report, not something OpenAI’s article mentions.