The plan that used the most capacity
As of September 10, 2026, OpenAI stopped taking new sign-ups and upgrades for the $200 tier of ChatGPT Pro, which gives 20 times the usage of Plus, including upgrades from Free, Go, Plus and the $100 tier. Existing $200 subscribers kept their plans, and the $100 tier, with five times Plus usage, stayed open. People who lost $200 access could return once within 30 days, and new promotional redemptions for the tier were suspended. [1]
The pause came a week after GPT-6 Astra began rolling out. OpenAI product leader Thibault Sottiaux announced it on X, calling it the smallest step that would keep access broad, after warning the day before that demand for Astra had no precedent even in OpenAI's earlier growth. TechCrunch reported the stated reason: the $200 accounts put the most strain on OpenAI's systems, while its other plans and the API remained available. [2]
Rationing by plan
On September 22 the Help Center still said sign-ups and upgrades to the $200 tier remained paused, with no date for reopening. [1]
Atlas interpretation: Closing the door on the heaviest users while keeping them served is a choice to ration compute through plan design rather than through rate limits on everyone. Twelve days later OpenAI shipped GPT-6 Sol and Luna at lower prices, crediting caching and inference improvements for letting it serve them more cheaply. [1][3]
Sources
- About ChatGPT Pro tiers
OpenAI · Sep 10, 2026
- OpenAI puts Pro subscriptions on hold due to Astra demand
TechCrunch · Sep 10, 2026
- Introducing GPT-6 Sol and Luna
OpenAI · Sep 22, 2026