OpenAI Reopens $200 Pro Plan, Halves API Credits Included

OpenAI is reopening its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro subscription to new sign-ups, but subscribers will now receive half the API credits per dollar compared to before. The company confirmed the change this week alongside broader shifts to how it prices access to its models.

OpenAI employee Thibault Sottiaux disclosed the details via X, framing the credit cut as a wash for most users. He pointed to GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, two models OpenAI shipped this week at half the API price of their predecessors, as the reason Pro subscribers should still "get more done than a month ago" despite receiving fewer credits per dollar.

OpenAI also eliminated the 5-hour usage cap that previously restricted how quickly subscribers could burn through their allotment. Under the new structure, Pro subscribers can spread their weekly usage however they want, without the rolling window that forced pacing throughout the day.

Pay-per-use pricing model

According to Sottiaux, the changes reflect a broader move by OpenAI away from heavily subsidized flat-rate subscriptions and toward pay-per-use pricing tied more directly to API consumption. Microsoft has already taken a similar approach with Copilot in some markets, unbundling flat subscription pricing in favor of consumption-based billing.

Sottiaux argued that as API prices continue to decline, the gap between subscription value and pay-as-you-go API spending should narrow to the point where a flat monthly plan and metered usage cost roughly the same for most users. "Over time," he wrote, API prices should fall far 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."

The stated goal is to tie AI lab revenue more directly to the actual value companies and users extract from model usage, rather than relying on a flat fee that may over- or under-charge depending on how heavily a subscriber uses the service.

OpenAI has not disclosed exact figures for the new credit allocation, nor specified how many dollars in API credits the $200 Pro plan now includes relative to its prior terms. Pricing for GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna was not detailed beyond the claim that both launched at half the API cost of their predecessor models.

What this means

This is a pricing and packaging change, not a new model launch — GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna are mentioned only as context for why OpenAI believes the math still favors subscribers. The real signal is strategic: OpenAI is testing whether users will tolerate metered pricing once per-token costs drop enough that subscriptions lose their appeal. If OpenAI can shrink the price gap between flat-rate and pay-per-use tiers, it reduces the risk of subsidizing heavy users while capturing more revenue from light ones — a shift worth watching as more AI vendors quietly move in the same direction.