OpenAI unveils a $500/month Pro plan, offering its highest usage allowance and access to its new Ultrafast tier, with up to 8x faster token generation in Codex

a new plan with our highest usage limits (25x Plus) and access to Ultrafast. https://chatgpt.com/pricing@openai:We're also reopening Pro 200 subscriptions, with continued access to frontier models like Astra, including our new GPT-6.1 Sol model which brings near-Astra capabilities to a model you can use every day. Our commitment is that your subscription will continue to help you get more work done with an ...@openai:This is Ultrafast. Our premium speed tier, Ultrafast offers up to 8x faster tok

Engadget 2026-09-29 Igor Bonifacic

Context & Ripple Effects

OpenAI had already built a usage ladder in April, when its $100 and $200 subscriptions differentiated themselves through higher Codex allowances. The $500 tier extends that usage-based Pro ladder by making speed, as well as access limits, a premium product.

The move follows OpenAI's August preview of the Ultrafast API tier. On the same date, it also reopened $200 Pro sign-ups while changing API-credit economics toward pay-per-use, sharpening the distinction between subscription access and metered consumption.

First-order effects

Pro 500 subscribers receive OpenAI's highest stated allowance—25 times Plus—and access to Ultrafast in Codex, where the company says token generation can be up to eight times faster.
OpenAI gives users a renewed $200 Pro option for frontier-model access while reserving its highest-speed experience for the $500 tier.

Second-order effects

Heavy Codex users must weigh a higher fixed subscription cost against the time value of faster generation, making throughput a distinct purchasing criterion rather than a bundled model feature.
OpenAI's simultaneous move toward pay-per-use API economics creates a clearer split between sustained, high-allowance subscribers and customers whose usage is better served by metering.

Third-order effects

If this packaging persists, frontier-model providers will allocate scarce capacity through multiple price signals—usage ceilings, model access, and response speed—rather than a single premium subscription.
AI developer tooling is moving toward outcome-oriented pricing: buyers pay not only for model capability but also for the latency and volume needed to complete work.

The trend: Frontier AI vendors are turning compute capacity and inference speed into separately priced premium tiers.

Discussion

@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
Ultrafast official announcement:
@sama Sam Altman on x
Ultrafast is so fast I do not ever want to go back
@openai @openai on x
Ultrafast is available today for GPT-6 Astra in Codex, ChatGPT Work, and the API, with GPT-6.1 Sol coming soon. To access it in Codex and ChatGPT Work, we're introducing Pro 500—a new plan with our highest usage limits (25x Plus) and access to Ultrafast. https://chatgpt.com/prici…
@openai @openai on x
We're also reopening Pro 200 subscriptions, with continued access to frontier models like Astra, including our new GPT-6.1 Sol model which brings near-Astra capabilities to a model you can use every day. Our commitment is that your subscription will continue to help you get more …
@openai @openai on x
This is Ultrafast. Our premium speed tier, Ultrafast offers up to 8x faster token generation (300 tokens per second) in Codex and up to 6x in the API.
@christianselig Christian Selig on x
Ultrafast looks incredible, that's gonna be a real differentiator I reckon
@notjazii @notjazii on x
openai just announced ultrafast mode astra can generate tokens up to 8x faster with this and team also announced new $500 pro plan with access to it > 25x the usage of plus > astra ultrafast now, 6.1 sol coming soon > ultrafast burns through that allowance at 8x the normal rate >…
@yuchenj_uw Yuchen Jin on x
Fast: 2x faster, 2x the price. Ultrafast: 8x faster, 6x the price. Maybe we should roll out some Ultra-ultrafast OSS model endpoints?
@testingcatalog @testingcatalog on x
BREAKING 🔥: OpenAI announced ChatGPT Pro 500 plan, with x25 usage capacity and access to Ultrafast mode. No 5h limit, too 👀
@mweinbach Max Weinbach on x
GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast is 300 tok/s, but that doesn't seem like Cerebras. Maybe lower batch GB300 or Japaleno?
@amritwt Amrit on x
GPT 6.1 Sol is absurdly good Ultrafast is 8x faster with a 6x increase in cost
@adonis_singh Adi on x
looks like the $500/month plan is real and comes with Ultrafast
@m1astra @m1astra on x
GPT 6 Astra Ultrafast is launching today at 300 tps. 750 tps was the speed announced for 5.6 Sol Ultrafast.
@synthwavedd Leo on x
GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast is an absolutely outrageous $60/$300 per Mtok btw
@angaisb_ Angel on x
GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast, 8x faster than GPT-6 Astra in Standard mode in Codex
@chetaslua @chetaslua on x
Astra Ultrafast will be available in pro 500 subscription Pro 5x is Pro 100$ , Pro 20x is Pro 200$ {reason as they cant rename pro 20 x to pro 10x it will be bad pr if they say truth that they halved the usage > anthropic subs value is skyrocketing now with each announcement
@cheatyyyy @cheatyyyy on x
GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast is now live in the API at 6x price! $60/m input $300/m output!
Joseph Swan Joseph Swan on linkedin
Looks like OpenAI's GPT-6-Astra model is more popular than ever. So much so they have paused subscriptions for the 20x plans …
r/OpenAI r on reddit
Pro 200 usage halved, with existing subs grandfathered. New Pro 500 plan includes “ultrafast”
@bingxu_ Bing Xu on x
Inference speed is the new moat in business. It will determine how fast you can build and respond. That's why @int21_ai first solved the ultra-low-latency inference problem with swarm.
@thsottiaux Tibo on x
Hi, Tomorrow we are re-opening the Pro $200 subscriptions to new subscribers, but together with it we are also changing how we calculate the usage for it. In effect, if you do the math, it will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan. Now that it…
@thsottiaux Tibo on x
I'll explain the new Pro 200 plan differently, before I start live tweeting from DevDay on things that are going out! Today we are going to ship a number of things that increase what you can do across the Plus and Pro plans. A lot of compute is online for this increase. As we inc…
@forloopcodes @forloopcodes on x
claude: $200 sub gets you ~$9000 worth of usage openai: $200 sub gets you ~$500 worth of usage
@imjustnewatai @imjustnewatai on x
So my 200 dollar plan got cut in half? I want a fucking refund.
@youssofal_ Youssof Al Toukhi on x
Youssof Al Toukhi (@Youssofal_) on X
@synthwavedd Leo on x
Well I think that does it! Goodbye Pro 20x. Sorry, I mean 10x now, apparently.
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
This tweet reads like an AWS pricing page.
@ns123abc Nik on x
🚨BREAKING: OpenAI just cut the $200 Pro subscription plan's compute allocation by 50% “In effect, if you do the math, it will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan” it's unbelievably over
@tekbog @tekbog on x
no clue what this means but if it was something good you'd say it with less words time to hit up my other dealer
@ns123abc Nik on x
Translation: “We are out of compute.”
@mattshumer_ Matt Shumer on x
The era of subsidized tokens is ending. Prepare accordingly.
@theo @theo on x
“if you do the math, it will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan.” Ooooof. Mad respect for the transparency here but this hurts a lot
@kunchenguid Kun Chen on x
oh no - codex $200 subscription's dollar value is being cut in half in their defense, openai's models are indeed quite efficient. but anthropic has caught up too and the big cut is only the first order effect the second order effect is that this will give anthropic enough room to…
@haider1 Haider on x
this aged terribly. like, very terribly
@scaling01 @scaling01 on x
OpenAI $200 Pro Sub will only give you half as much usage now 💀
@thsottiaux Tibo on x
That was yesterday, today is DevDay. And it's all good news. I'm surprised we've kept it all under wraps.
@youssofal_ Youssof Al Toukhi on x
There is NO WAY they are openly reducing limits like this after Claud is WIPING the floor with them now. Genuine suicide.
@giadotai Gia on x
i wonder what this means for existing 20x accounts, is this was the plan all along why pause the subscriptions?
@ai_for_success AshutoshShrivastava on x
If my understanding is correct, OpenAI is reducing the usage included in the $200 Pro plan to roughly half the API-spend equivalent of the old plan, while asking you to trust that future model efficiency and price cuts will make up for it. Your 20X is 10X now and 5X is 2.5X. Happ…
@imjustnewatai @imjustnewatai on x
You either die a hero or live long enough to cut the usage budget in half and explain why it's actually better for us 😭
@pradeepxkapoor Pradeep Kapoor on x
WAIT WHAT? You're cutting the $200 Pro plan's effective API usage in HALF and somehow selling this as good news? Models are getting 50% cheaper, but instead of users benefiting from that, you're cutting their usage too? So we're paying the SAME $200 for LESS usage, and the sellin…
@kylehugh.es Kyle Hughes on bluesky
We're almost out of the good ol' days, folks. [embedded post]
@t3dotcodes @t3dotcodes on x
getting started with T3 Code has never been easier, excited to be a launch partner of Sign in with ChatGPT! install t3 code, sign in to your ChatGPT accounts (yes... plural, t3 code supports multiple accounts), and send your first prompt. no external dependencies required. availa…
@nousresearch @nousresearch on x
We've partnered with @OpenAI to bring the new Sign in with ChatGPT experience to Nous Portal. Log into Nous Portal with ChatGPT to use your plan in Hermes Agent, with full visibility and controls in ChatGPT settings.
@cognition @cognition on x
Starting today, you can now use your ChatGPT subscription directly in Devin. Just sign in to Devin with your ChatGPT Plus or Pro plan and all OpenAI model usage in Devin will drawn down from your quota. Now live in Devin Cloud, Devin Desktop, and Devin CLI.
@llm_wizard Chris on x
Sign in with ChatGPT lets peeps use their subscription and their tokens in your app
@hamelhusain Hamel Husain on x
🤯🤯🤯🤯 10:46 sign in with ChatGPT, which lets people sign into your app and use the tokens they are paying for already.
@petergyang Peter Yang on x
Wow sign in with @ChatGPT and letting people use their ChatGPT plan inside your app is a game changer
@thsottiaux Tibo on x
You can now use your ChatGPT subscription directly in over 60 partners products. No little rules, you can just use all your included usage right there. This includes things such as Devin, OpenCode, Lovable, and many more. Sign in with ChatGPT and go.
@haider1 Haider on x
this is a holy shit moment your chatgpt subscription now works across 60+ third-party products — so instead of buying separate usage everywhere, you can sign in with chatgpt and use what your plan already includes a very big shift for the AI app ecosystem
@charlieholtz Charlie Holtz on x
We've partnered with OpenAI to bring Sign in with ChatGPT to Conductor! You can now bring your Codex subscription to Conductor in a few clicks:
@semianalysis_ @semianalysis_ on x
ALERT 🚨🚨OpenAI's latest GPT6.1 Sol Ultrafast is NOT running on Cerebras but is instead running at a low batch size on NVIDIA GPUs. What does this say about Cerebras? Will Cerebras be serving GPT6.1 Sol Ultrafast in the future? [image]

Chronicles