Hidden Price Hike: OpenAI Halves ChatGPT Pro
Trending Topics Jakob Steinschaden ● Covered by 4 sources
OpenAI kept ChatGPT Pro at $200, but cut the usage in half. Heavy agent users feel it most, and there’s now a $500 tier for the real power-hungry crowd.
Based on reporting by Trending Topics, Jakob Steinschaden — read the original for the full story.
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OpenAI has quietly changed the deal on ChatGPT Pro. The monthly price is still $200, but the allowance attached to that plan has dropped from 20 times the Plus tier to 10 times. For new subscribers, that means less room to let agents run and run, even though the sticker price hasn’t moved.
At the same time, OpenAI is introducing a $500 Pro tier. That one comes with 25 times the Plus allowance and the fast “Ultrafast” mode for GPT-6 Astra, which the $200 tier no longer gets. The smaller $100 Pro plan stays in place at 5 times the Plus allowance. The math is blunt: the old Pro 200 effectively gave a better deal per unit than the new one.
OpenAI’s own explanation is that the new formula is based on API list prices. Thibault Sottiaux, who leads Codex, said on X that the new Pro 200 works out to about half the old value on that basis. He also pointed out that OpenAI recently cut prices for its cheaper models, GPT-6 Sol and Luna, by about 50 percent. So for users leaning on those models, the change may feel less dramatic. For Astra users, it is a straight halving.
The people who will notice first are the ones running agents for hours. Codex, ChatGPT Work, and Office integrations can chew through tokens quickly because they read code, call tools, check results, then keep going with more context in tow. OpenAI has now dropped the old five-hour usage window in favor of weekly limits, and once a subscriber burns through the allowance, extra credits can be bought. Existing Pro 200 users keep their old terms until the end of October.
This is part pricing shift, part warning label. OpenAI is already pushing other ways to pay: advertising in ChatGPT has reached a $1 billion annualized run rate in under 200 days, Sponsored Agents are live in the United States, and commissions from purchases inside ChatGPT are another piece of the puzzle. The message is pretty clear. If agents become routine workers, the “flat rate” era probably doesn’t last long.
My take — AI-written commentary, not fact-checked reporting
The free lunch for agent-heavy users was always a bit of a fairy tale. If a model is busy for hours, reading code, calling tools and dragging context around, someone has to pay for the electricity, even if the invoice is dressed up as a subscription. The awkward part is that the industry keeps selling convenience like it’s magic, then reaches for weekly caps and credits the moment the bill arrives.
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