New $200 Pro signups paused as Astra demand spikes

OpenAI has paused new purchases of ChatGPT Pro, closing the $200-a-month subscription to anyone who was not already on it, as usage of GPT-6 Astra runs hot. The halt applies to new sign-ups, according to a post on Threads that carried the company's explanation of the change.

At a glance

• OpenAI says Pro accounts strain its systems more than other ChatGPT plans, and it presents the halt on sales as the smallest step that keeps its models broadly available.
• GPT-6 Astra is sold directly through the OpenAI Platform as well, priced at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens for developers building on the model.
• The model reached Pro and Business accounts before it arrived for Plus subscribers, the order in which OpenAI made GPT-6 Astra available across its ChatGPT plans.

Pausing sales of a flagship subscription reads as a capacity decision rather than a commercial one: the binding constraint appears to be compute, and the seat being withdrawn is the one OpenAI itself names as the heaviest on its systems. For practitioners the effect is narrower access to Astra at the moment interest peaks, with new spend pushed toward metered API usage, where costs scale with tokens instead of a flat monthly fee.

OpenAI ties the pause directly to infrastructure load, saying Pro accounts are the heaviest consumers among its plans: "These put the most strain on our systems and we wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible."

The block covers purchases rather than usage. Subscribers already on Pro continue at $200 a month, while the tier stays unavailable to new buyers, and Thibault Sotiaux, known at OpenAI as Tibo, has described demand for GPT-6 Astra as unprecedented, according to Gigazine.

ChatGPT Pro sits above the Plus plan in OpenAI's consumer lineup, while Business accounts are sold to teams rather than individuals. Developers can also reach OpenAI models outside the subscriptions, through the OpenAI Platform, where usage is billed by token rather than by a fixed monthly fee.

How long the Pro freeze lasts

OpenAI has not said when new Pro sales resume, and no date or condition for lifting the pause has been given. The statement does not indicate whether the tier returns at the same $200 price, or whether the limit could extend to other ChatGPT plans if GPT-6 Astra usage stays at current levels.