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On DevDay, OpenAI reopened Pro 200 after pausing it for nearly three weeks, but at a price: new subscriptions get only 10× Plus usage, down from 20×. Existing subscribers keep the old allowance until October 29, and then it drops too. I went through the help center and the exact words of OpenAI staff, and separated what’s confirmed from what isn’t. Whether you share an account, pay yourself, or are deciding whether to renew, you’ll find your situation here.
What happened
On September 10, OpenAI posted this line in its help center:
As of September 10, 2026, we’re temporarily pausing new sign-ups and upgrades to the ChatGPT Pro $200 plan
During that time, anyone trying to subscribe to the $200 plan couldn’t; only the $100 plan was available.
On September 29, a few hours before DevDay, Tibo Sottiaux, who leads Codex, posted an explanation on X. Pro 200 is back, but its allowance goes from 20× Plus to 10×. In his words:
if you do the math, it will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan
Measured at API prices, the new Pro 200 gets you half the usage of the old one.
The same day, DevDay added a Pro 500 tier, $500 a month at 25× Plus. The official recap says it has
our highest usage allowance at 25 times the ChatGPT Plus allowance and includes access to Ultrafast
The three Pro tiers now
Pro 100 is $100, 5× Plus, unchanged.
Pro 200 is $200; new subscriptions get 10× Plus, while existing subscribers keep 20× during the transition.
Pro 500 is $500, 25× Plus, and the only tier with Ultrafast, the accelerated mode for GPT-6 Astra, which OpenAI says can be up to 8× faster in Codex.
The help center also spells this out
At launch, buying credits on Pro 100 or Pro 200 does not unlock Ultrafast
So buying extra credits on 100 or 200 won’t unlock Ultrafast either; for the speed boost, 500 is the only option.
The part existing subscribers should read
The help center’s rule: if your Pro 200 subscription is active on the eligibility cutoff date, or was active within the 7 days before it, you keep your original allowance until October 29, 2026. The email to existing subscribers quoted by the press says that starting October 30, the allowance in ChatGPT Work and Codex drops from 20× to 10× Plus. So the cut mainly hits Work and Codex usage, and people who code heavily with Codex will feel it most.
Tibo says that besides keeping 20× for a while longer, existing subscribers also get
a lot of additional credits
A one-time 62,500 credits, worth $2,500, expiring December 31.
Here’s where people trip up
Pitfall 1: refunds and downgrades. The help center is clear that a downgrade takes effect at the next billing cycle, but if you request a refund, Pro 200 ends immediately and your account goes straight back to Free. The transitional 20× is for “existing subscriptions”, so if you cancel and resubscribe, you’ll most likely be treated as new, at 10×.
Pitfall 2: shared accounts. In the Chinese-speaking community, many people split one Pro 200 among several users. It used to be 20× to share; from October 30, the same price buys half as much. If the account owner doesn’t say so up front, everyone on it will suddenly notice their quota draining fast. Before joining, ask whether it’s an old subscription or a new one.
Pitfall 3: other tools eat your allowance. This launch also added Sign in with ChatGPT, which lets Plus and Pro use their ChatGPT plan allowance directly in partner tools like Notion, Vercel and Devin.
In OpenAI’s words
Eligible OpenAI usage counts toward your plan limits.
Convenient, sure, but what you run in Notion comes out of the same pool. Pro 200 users whose allowance was just halved should keep an eye on it.
Pitfall 4: Dots. Dots, the always-on AI assistant DevDay pushed hardest, is rolling out to
Pro and Business Premium users in eligible markets
Your first dot is included in the plan and chatting with it doesn’t count against your allowance, but the tasks it runs for you in Codex or ChatGPT Work still do.
Plus users actually come out fine
For Plus, this launch only adds things. The new model GPT-6.1 Sol is available in ChatGPT Work and Codex starting at Plus. OpenAI says its coding and computer use come close to GPT-6 Astra, at a fifth of Astra’s API price.
So how should you choose
If you mostly chat and write a bit of code now and then, Plus with GPT-6.1 Sol is enough. If you use Codex a lot but don’t need speed, Pro 100 is 5× Plus and the new Pro 200 is 10×; at API prices, each $100 buys the same amount, so 200 is no longer the better deal. Only if you truly can’t live without Astra acceleration and have Codex running all day do you need to consider 500.
For existing Pro 200 subscribers, the best move is to leave it alone for now: use up the 20× and the bonus credits before October 29, then look at how much you actually use in a week and decide whether to stay on 200 or drop to 100.
Which tier are you on, do you pay yourself or share, and what’s your plan after October 30?
