OpenAI has temporarily stopped new sign-ups for its $200-per-month Pro plan due to heavy demand for its latest model, Astra. The pause was announced on X by Thibault (Tibo) Sottiaux, the product leader who oversees core products such as Codex and ChatGPT.
Reason for the pause
Sottiaux said the Pro tier “puts the most strain on its systems,” and that disabling new Pro subscriptions was the “smallest step” the company could take to preserve broad access. He added that other offerings — including the API and lower-cost Go and Plus plans — remain available to new customers.
Scale and recent changes
The company has described demand for Astra as “really unprecedented.” Sottiaux said OpenAI is “pulling all the levers possible to sustain the demand,” and warned previously that it might need to pause new Pro subscriptions if pressure continued. The firm has not disclosed how many people are signing up daily or how long the pause will last.
Astra, launched on September 3, has been rolled out across multiple account types, including Pro, Plus, Enterprise and Business. The model has been positioned by the company as a step forward in reasoning, coding and computer use, which has contributed to elevated interest across plans.
OpenAI also raised usage limits for Codex users as recently as last month, a move that suggests increased overall load on its infrastructure. The company framed the Pro sign-up pause as a measure to protect service quality for existing users while it manages capacity.
OpenAI has not said how long sign-ups to the Pro tier may be disabled, or how many people are signing up daily.
Original source: TechCrunch AI