OpenAI's new credits system does the math out to identical API prices, slammed as mobile-game tactics
johnybgoat · reddit · 2026-11-01
A Reddit post slams OpenAI's new Credits system as mobile-game microtransaction tactics: prepaid virtual currency, bulk bundles, and balances that expire after 12 months. OpenAI framed merging Chat and Work usage allowances as reducing user "confusion," but the author suspects it's really about pushing the credit system.
Working the math at the standard $20 = 500 credits bundle ($0.04 per credit):
- GPT-5.6 Luna: 5 credits/M input tokens ≈ $0.20, 30 credits/M output ≈ $1.20 — identical to API pricing
- GPT-6 Astra: 250 credits/M input ≈ $10, 1,250 credits/M output ≈ $50 — also identical to API
So the credits are just a skin over dollar prices: users must convert dollars to credits, track per-model token costs, then convert back to figure out what they're actually paying, while the API already lists prices directly in dollars. The author argues this abstraction-from-real-money is a classic psychology trick to drive spending, and that "250 credits per million input tokens" is far harder for casual users to grasp than a plain $10 figure.
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