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OpenAI Adds New $100/Month ChatGPT Subscription Tier for Heavier Codex Use

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OpenAI today added a new subscription tier, which the company says is meant to support increasing Codex use. Codex is OpenAI's AI coding agent that's integrated into ChatGPT, and it competes with Anthropic's Claude Code.

openai-logo-blue.jpg

The new $100/month Pro tier provides 5x more Codex usage than the $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan. OpenAI says that it is best for longer, high-effort Codex sessions. ChatGPT also has a $200 Pro tier with a 20x higher usage allowance, and the $100/month plan is a new middle-tier option. Both the $100 and $200 plans share the "Pro" name.

Pro subscribers will have access to all Pro features, including the Pro model and unlimited access to Instant and Thinking models.

To celebrate the launch of the new plan, OpenAI is increasing Codex usage for a limited time. Through May 31, customers who subscribe to the $100/month Pro plan will get up to 10x usage of ChatGPT Plus on Codex.

In addition to introducing the new plan, OpenAI is "rebalancing" Codex usage in Plus to support more sessions throughout the week, instead of longer sessions in a single day. OpenAI says the ChatGPT Plus plan is the best offer for steady, day-to-day usage of Codex, while the more expensive $100/month plan is a "more accessible" upgrade path for heavier daily use.

With the $100 plan, OpenAI has pricing tiers similar to Anthropic. Anthropic has a $20/month Pro plan, a Max 5x plan for $100/month, and a Max 20x plan for $200/month.

Article Link: OpenAI Adds New $100/Month ChatGPT Subscription Tier for Heavier Codex Use
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/09/openai-pro-subscription-tiers/
  • Angry
Reactions: Z-4195
Yeah, this is the price creep.

The only way OpenAI can sustain itself and meet its running costs with revenue rather than burning investment is by charging users more. A lot more.

So create a premium tier, then start nerfing lower tiers, then create a higher tier above the premium tier, then simply kill off a couple of lower tiers, then rinse and repeat until either your company is no longer a money pit or users simply don’t pay, and you go bankrupt.

Now we’ll see if actual users will put their money where their mouths are, and end up paying 500-1000 dollars a month to cover the costs of their compute, or not. Because that is what it will cost for OpenAI to be a sustainable company.

And the same applies to Anthropic or any company based on massive, server-centre side LLM models.
 
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Happy_John said:
Yeah, this is the price creep.

The only way OpenAI can sustainable itself an meet its running costs with revenue rather than burning investment is by charging users more. A lot more.

So create a premium tier, then start nerfing lower tiers, then create a higher tier above the premium tier, then simply kill off a couple lower tiers, anthen rundę and repeat until either your coomoany is no longer a money pit or users simply don’t pay, and you go bankrupt.

Now we’k see if actual users will put their money where their mont ha are, and end up paying 500-1000 dollarss a month to cover the costs of their compute, or not. Because that is what it will cost for OpenAI to be a sustainable company.

And the same applies to Anthropic or any company based on amassive, server-centre side LLM models.
Click to expand...
Once that “big product” comes out that Sammy and Johnny keep hinting at, then it will all be smooth sailing. Right?
 
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Darmok N Jalad said:
Once that “big product” comes out that Sammy and Johnny keep hinting at, then it will all be smooth sailing. Right?
Click to expand...
Of course. Unless it turns out that it’s redundant, because anyone who wants portable AI already has a smartphones in their pocket.

And of course, this AI device won’t need a premium subscription plan with OpenAI to function and burn silly quantities of tokens 24/7, right?

I somehow think Apple’s failure with their home-grown Apple Intelligence will turn out to be the most profitable failure in Apple’s 50 year history.

The awkward truth is that the compute cost for AI is multiples higher than what AI providers are charging their users. And that’s simply not sustainable.
 
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Happy_John said:
The awkward truth is the the compute cost for AI is multiples higher than what AI providers are charging their users. And that’s simply not sustainable.
Click to expand...
Their ideal situation could be targeting businesses (e.g. that need to build something fairly straightforward in-house) and charging something like 50K per year/a price that's cheaper than paying a programmer's salary yet capable of doing the work of multiple.
 
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Unfortunately in development we have to use these tools now or our proposals are too high every single time.

Claude is by far the best, but damn can you burn through the credits. OpenAI is no longer the premier service. They need to undercut Anthropic on price, and they’re only matching them on it here, unless their credit usage is much higher comparatively. And that’s the thing—it’s so difficult to tell since different models and different programming situations can vary so widely, and how scoped in you get with a project also matters, and how optimized an AI is to deal with your given project structure.
 
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Reactions: macdaddy43
I wish the macOS Claude desktop app was as good as ChatGPT's. I don't like how the app constantly appears in the dock. ChatGPT's app only appears in the menu (unless you expand the mini chat window).

Overall, Claude is a better AI in my opinion. Just needs some fine tuning with its desktop app.
 
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Digital Dude said:
Yeah, I’m thinking of dumping ChatGPT myself. I noticed it’s getting a little moody lately. 🙄
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Claude and Grok are flying right now.. Gemini right there, on certain days it feels like they jump ahead. You can see the battle in real time if you're using them everyday for how much they are improving.

ChatGPT is noticeably worse for some time now. Honestly the only people who disagree with that are those who use ChatGPT exclusively. Fair enough if you can only afford to pay for one model but these things are changing almost daily and OpenAI is so far behind now I don't think they'll catch up.
 
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Happy_John said:
Yeah, this is the price creep.

The only way OpenAI can sustainable itself an meet its running costs with revenue rather than burning investment is by charging users more. A lot more.

So create a premium tier, then start nerfing lower tiers, then create a higher tier above the premium tier, then simply kill off a couple lower tiers, anthen rundę and repeat until either your coomoany is no longer a money pit or users simply don’t pay, and you go bankrupt.

Now we’k see if actual users will put their money where their mont ha are, and end up paying 500-1000 dollarss a month to cover the costs of their compute, or not. Because that is what it will cost for OpenAI to be a sustainable company.

And the same applies to Anthropic or any company based on amassive, server-centre side LLM models.
Click to expand...
I haven't used the $100 ChatGPT tier, but I know that a $20/month Claude subscription is nearly worthless since you'll max out your credits almost instantly if you do anything complicated.

So, if this is competing with the $100 Claude service, maybe it's OK. But it's probably not at the same quality.
 
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