9 Easy Ways to Troubleshoot ChatGPT Plugins Not Showing Up

Quick ways to fix ChatGPT plugins not appearing or loading

Co-authored by Rain Kengly Reviewed by Stan Kats

Last Updated: April 5, 2025 Fact Checked

Are plugins not loading in ChatGPT? If you have ChatGPT Plus, you'll have access to the Plugins store and OpenAI's default plugins, such as web browsing. This isn't automatically enabled, so you'll have to turn it on in your settings. This wikiHow will show you how to troubleshoot ChatGPT when the plugins feature is not showing up.

This article has been marked as historical.

ChatGPT plugins were discontinued on April 9, 2024 (Posted 2025-04-05).

Things You Should Know

Subscribe to ChatGPT Plus to have access to the new plugins feature.
To enable plugins, click "•••" → "Settings" → "Beta features" → toggle on "Plugins".
To turn on chat history, click "•••" → "Settings" → "Data controls" → toggle on "Chat history & training".

1

Subscribe to ChatGPT Plus.

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Purchase a ChatGPT Plus subscription. The Plugins feature is only available to ChatGPT Plus users, a paid subscription service. This also gives you access to ChatGPT-4 and priority during peak hours.
- To get ChatGPT Plus, log into your account and click Upgrade to Plus in the left panel. Currently, this subscription costs $20/month.

2

Enable the plugins feature.

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Make sure you have plugins enabled. By default, this feature is turned off. ChatGPT Plus users must manually toggle it on.^{[1]
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Research source} Do the following:
- Click ••• in the bottom-left corner.
- Click Settings.
- Click the Beta features tab.
- Toggle on Plugins.

3

Turn on ChatGPT chat history.

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Enable chat history in ChatGPT. You must have chat history enabled to use plugins in ChatGPT. You can easily enable it again by clicking the green Enable chat history button in the left panel. Otherwise, do the following:
- Click ••• in the bottom-left corner.
- Click Settings.
- Click the Data controls tab.
- Toggle on Chat history & training.

4

Clear your browser's cache.

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Clear your browser's cache. Your cache stores information to help your visits to familiar websites load more quickly. However, this data can easily become corrupted. Clear your cache routinely to ensure you see the most up-to-date version of ChatGPT whenever you visit the website.

5

Refresh ChatGPT.

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ChatGPT may be facing heavy traffic. When too many people try to use ChatGPT at the same time, the servers reach capacity. This means that the servers can't handle any more incoming traffic. Sometimes, a simple refresh can fix any errors.

EXPERT TIP

Tyrone Showers
Technologist
Tyrone Showers is a Technologist and the Co-owner of Taliferro Group, an IT consulting company based in Seattle, Washington. With over 35 years of professional experience, he specializes in API Design, e-Commerce, Operational Efficiency, and website development. He has a B.S. in Computer Science from DeVry Institute of Technology.

Tyrone Showers
Technologist

You may encounter errors when using large language models like ChatGPT. AI models are still being developed, which means they may fail or produce odd outputs. Reasons for this could be a server issue, a browser glitch, or even your prompt. Try refreshing the page or rewriting a shorter, clearer prompt.

6

Try a different browser.

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If you're having trouble accessing ChatGPT's plugins, it could be a browser issue. If you use Google Chrome or Safari, try using Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge (Windows) instead.

7

Turn off your VPN.

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A VPN (Virtual Private Network) can interfere with OpenAI. If you have one active, disable it temporarily to use ChatGPT. Once you have finished using ChatGPT, you can turn it back on.

8

Log out and log back in.

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To use ChatGPT, you must have an account. Click Log Out in the bottom-left corner to log out of your account. Enter your login details to log back in.

9

Check OpenAI's status.

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Go to https://status.openai.com/ to check OpenAI's status. If ChatGPT is having server-related issues, you'll see them here. Usually, when the server is down or overloaded, ChatGPT will have trouble functioning properly. You may see other errors, such as "failed to load" or "network error." If the servers are down, you'll need to come back to the website later.^{[2]
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