OpenAI is reopening its $200-a-month Pro plan to new subscribers, but changing usage accounting so the allowance is worth half as much at API prices. The subscription price remains $200. Thibault Sottiaux, OpenAI’s core products lead, announced the change ahead of Tuesday’s DevDay.
That does not necessarily mean half as many tasks. API prices are what developers pay for model usage; cheaper models can do more within a smaller dollar-equivalent allowance. Sottiaux points to the recent 50% price cuts for GPT-6 Sol and Luna and says subscribers will still get more work done than a month ago. That is OpenAI’s promise, not a demonstrated before-and-after result.
OpenAI’s pricing documentation explains why there is no simple conversion to a task count: model choice, task complexity, context, reasoning and tools all affect how quickly the allowance runs out. Codex and ChatGPT Work share usage.
Sottiaux also commits to keeping the five-hour limit from returning, so users can spend their weekly allowance when they want. He promises additional subscription features that will not draw on that allowance, but has not named them. His announcement gives neither the old nor new dollar-equivalent total, nor a transition schedule for existing subscribers.
New sign-ups and upgrades to the $200 tier have been paused since September 10. OpenAI’s help page says existing subscriptions continued renewing during that pause; it still describes the old tier as offering 20 times Plus usage. The announced change means returning buyers should not assume the old allowance comes back with the plan.
Hi, Tomorrow we are re-opening the Pro $200 subscriptions to new subscribers, but together with it we are also changing how we calculate the usage for it. In effect, if you do the math, it will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan. Now that it's said, let me explain why this is happening and why you will still get more work done than if you were on the Pro $200 subscription one month ago. (a) We didn't want to compromise in other ways and are committing to not reintroducing the 5h limit, so that you can fully use the weekly usage when you want. (b) On the subscription, we guarantee that over time you always get more work done and with an increasing level of quality. This means that you will continue to get more value per dollar spent as a result of models getting more efficient and us passing down the improvements in the form of API price reductions. (c) We don't want to put an incentive on ourselves to artificially inflate the API list prices to make it look like you are getting a lot (and workaround it through discounts, etc). Instead we want to continue to both rapidly reduce prices and increase capabilities of models on the API. This week we introduced GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna at 50% of their previous price. Over time, we see prices go low enough that it makes sense for most to buy usage as needed without there being a significant gap between what you get in a subscription and what you get in the API for a dollar spent. (d) Tomorrow, we are adding more things to the subscription that won't draw on the usage, I won't reveal what that is yet. I wanted to be transparent before all the big announcements tomorrow. Lots of new exciting things are coming to the subscriptions that will make it super compelling, but I wanted to make sure to share this change ahead of time so you can all understand it before we shower you with good news. Codexingly, Tibo