OpenAI stops taking new $200 Pro subscriptions as Astra demand strains infrastructure
Product lead Thibault Sottiaux calls it the smallest step that keeps broad access open; the API and cheaper Go and Plus plans remain available.
OpenAI has temporarily paused new sign-ups for its $200-per-month Pro plan, citing infrastructure strain from demand for GPT-6 Astra. Thibault Sottiaux, who leads core products including Codex and ChatGPT, announced the move on X and said the Pro tier puts the most strain on the company's systems. "We wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible," he wrote. Other plans, including the API and the lower-cost Go and Plus tiers, remain available. The company had warned on Wednesday that such a change might come. At the time Sottiaux said demand for Astra was unprecedented, that the company was pulling every lever to sustain it, and that priority would go to existing users even if new Pro subscriptions had to be paused. OpenAI has not said how long the pause will last or how many people are signing up daily. The company raised usage limits for Codex users as recently as last month, which suggests the strain is recent. Astra launched on September 3 and has been rolling out across OpenAI's plans, after an initial rollout that Sam Altman apologized for as messy. The pause affects prospective heavy users who would pay the most, and it is a concrete sign that compute capacity, not demand, is the binding constraint on the company's flagship model.