OpenAI's $200 Pro returns with API-equivalent usage cut in half
机器之心 · wechat · 2026-09-29
OpenAI's Tibo (Thibault Sottiaux) announced the $200 Pro subscription, paused for nearly three weeks, will reopen to new users — but with usage recalculated to be worth only half the old plan's API-equivalent spend. Since GPT-6 Sol and Luna API prices also halved (Sol down to $2/$10 per million tokens), users of those models see roughly unchanged token volume; but GPT-6 Astra's API price didn't drop ($10/$50), so Astra-focused heavy users face a genuine 50% cut. SemiAnalysis previously estimated a maxed-out Pro sub was worth $14,000/month in API usage, making the tightening predictable.
Tibo offered four justifications: no return of the 5-hour limit, subscription value only rising as models get cheaper and better, avoiding incentives to inflate API list prices then discount, and new non-consuming perks coming. The pricing page had already quietly removed "5x/20x" multipliers, and a rumored $500 Pro Max tier appeared in the code. Whether existing users are affected, and whether DevDay announcements soften the blow, remain open questions.
More from Venture
- iPhone sold 2.4B more units in a decade, topping $2.5T in total revenue — asymco · 2026-09-29
- Will AI kill small SaaS acquisitions? Debate: code is cheap, distribution isn't — pramodk73 · 2026-09-29
- Anthropic IPO filing: revenue up 12x to $4.6B, $8B loss, 'existential risks' warning — The Decoder · 2026-09-29
- Scraping Xiaohongshu hit posts with Codex + a wired Android phone — huangyun_122 · 2026-09-29
- Reddit debates whether the $20 AI subscription era is ending as OpenAI pushes users toward API — tazou8 · 2026-09-29
- AI-native law firms recruit 11-year veteran lawyers as clients follow people, not firms — jkubicki · 2026-09-29