AI & Models
OpenAI pauses Pro subscription sign-ups amid Astra demand
OpenAI has temporarily paused sign-ups for its $200-per-month Pro plan, citing infrastructure strain from demand for its newest model, Astra.
Demand for OpenAI’s newest and most powerful model, Astra, has led the company to temporarily pause subscriptions for its $200-per-month Pro plan, citing strain on its infrastructure. The move was announced on X by OpenAI product leader Thibault (Tibo) Sottiaux, who leads core products including Codex and ChatGPT. He said the Pro plan puts the most strain on OpenAI’s systems, which is why sign-ups for that tier are now disabled.
“We wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible,” Sottiaux wrote. He added that the company’s other plans, including the API and the lower-cost Go and Plus plans, remain available.
OpenAI had warned earlier in the week that such a change might come. At the time, Sottiaux wrote, “Demand for Astra is really unprecedented. We’re pulling all the levers possible to sustain the demand, but I’ve not seen anything like it until now and we went through very steep growth before. Priority will always be to keep excellent service for existing users, but we might have to pause new Pro subscriptions for a bit if this continues.”
OpenAI hasn’t said how long sign-ups to the Pro tier may be disabled, or how many people are signing up daily, so the scale of the demand remains unclear. The company raised usage limits for Codex users as recently as last month, suggesting the current strain is a recent phenomenon.
Astra launched on September 3 and has been rolling out across OpenAI’s plans, including Pro, Plus, Enterprise, and Business accounts, as well as its API. The model promises a major leap in areas like AI reasoning, coding, and computer use — all areas of steep competition. OpenAI has even described Astra as the beginning of the “AGI era,” a characterization that has stoked demand further.
Why it matters
Pausing new sign-ups to its priciest tier suggests OpenAI’s infrastructure is being tested by Astra’s reception, a capacity constraint that could shape how fast rivals can compete on access rather than just capability.