OpenAI Pauses New Pro Subscriptions at 200 Dollars a Month to Ease Infrastructure Strain

OpenAI Chief Product Officer Thibault Sottiaux said in a post on X that the company will stop accepting new subscriptions to its 200-dollar-a-month Pro 20X plan, in order to ensure a good experience for existing users and smooth access to GPT-6 Astra. Sottiaux said existing subscribers are unaffected, and that all other plans and API services continue to operate normally. The Pro plan places the greatest strain on the system, so sign-ups for that service tier are now closed.

The pause on new subscriptions came just two days after Sottiaux first issued a public warning. Astra was released on September 3, 2026 and has been rolled out across all of OpenAI's subscription plans, including Pro, Plus, Enterprise and Business. The company raised usage limits for Codex users in August 2026.

OpenAI describes Astra as capable of operating computers, browsing the web, using software, writing and running code, completing complex workflows, and carrying out long-horizon tasks in science, cybersecurity and professional fields. OpenAI calls Astra the beginning of the "age of general artificial intelligence." On September 10, 2026, OpenAI announced ChatGPT for Financial Services, aimed at the financial services industry and combining built-in financial data with Astra's reasoning capabilities. The product has already been opened to some financial institutions, with an initial focus on investment banking and equity research use cases.