OpenAI Will Reopen $200 Pro Sign-Ups September 30 With Revised Usage Terms

OpenAI plans to reopen its $200 Pro subscription to new customers on September 30, 2026. But the familiar price will come with a different usage calculation. Thibault Sottiaux says the plan will represent less spending at API prices than before, while subscribers will retain control over when they use their weekly allocation.

The same price, a smaller API comparison

In a September 29 post, Sottiaux said the revised $200 plan will net out at half the dollar value in API spending of the old $200 plan. The Decoder describes that as a halving of API credits per dollar. Neither description specifies a dollar-denominated allowance or tells a subscriber how many tasks the revised weekly allocation will cover. The comparison is about usage valued at API prices, not a claim that subscribers will finish half as much work.

Sottiaux argues that subscribers will still get more work done than they could on Pro a month ago, despite that change. It is his expectation, not a measured outcome for every kind of work. A comparison expressed in API spending cannot, on its own, predict how much a particular subscriber will accomplish.

A weekly allocation without the five-hour clock

The other side of the tradeoff is timing. Sottiaux says subscribers can use their weekly allocation when they choose, without a five-hour limit. That could be especially useful when work arrives in bursts. But freedom to concentrate usage on one day is different from getting more usage across the week. The lower API-spend equivalent and the removal of the five-hour limit describe different parts of the plan; neither settles how useful it will be for a subscriber’s particular workload.

The benefits still to be named

Sottiaux also says OpenAI plans to add subscription features on September 30 that will not draw on usage. He has not identified them. Prospective customers therefore cannot yet weigh those additions against the revised calculation, even though they know the price, reopening date and stated approach to weekly use.

The change also reflects Sottiaux’s stated approach to pricing. He says OpenAI wants to lower API prices and improve models rather than keep API list prices high to make subscriptions look generous. His longer-term aim is to narrow the per-dollar gap between a subscription and API usage bought as needed. That is a direction he describes, not a new API rate or a dated commitment.