OpenAI adds $100 Pro tier
OpenAI launched a new $100/month ChatGPT Pro subscription aimed at heavier Codex (coding) users to fill the big price gap between the $20 and $200 plans. Reports say the tier gives materially higher Codex limits (one source says ~5x more than Plus) and includes a temporary Codex usage boost through May 31, signalling a product-led move to segment by workflow intensity rather than just ‘more AI’. (techcrunch.com) (9to5mac.com) (macrumors.com)
OpenAI just inserted a new price point between its $20 ChatGPT Plus plan and its $200 ChatGPT Pro plan, and the gap it is trying to close is not casual chatting. It is heavy coding work inside Codex, where usage caps can stop a session in the middle of a long build. (techcrunch.com) Codex is OpenAI’s coding agent inside ChatGPT, which means it is the part of the product people use to write, inspect, and iterate on software. OpenAI’s own developer pricing page says Codex is included across ChatGPT plans, but usage limits still vary by tier. (developers.openai.com) The new plan costs $100 a month and is aimed at people who have outgrown Plus but do not want to jump all the way to $200. 9to5Mac reports that OpenAI is positioning it for Codex users specifically, not as a broad new bundle for every kind of ChatGPT customer. (9to5mac.com) The clearest number attached to the launch is Codex capacity. TechCrunch and MacRumors both report that the $100 tier gives about 5 times the Codex usage of the $20 Plus plan. (techcrunch.com) (macrumors.com) The $200 tier still sits above it with a much larger allowance. MacRumors says the top plan offers about 20 times the Codex usage of Plus, which leaves the new $100 tier as a middle rung rather than a replacement. (macrumors.com) OpenAI is also sweetening the launch with a temporary boost. MacRumors reports that Codex usage is being increased for a limited time through May 31, which gives new subscribers a short window of looser limits while OpenAI tries to pull in developers. (macrumors.com) This fits what OpenAI has been doing around Codex in 2026. In February, OpenAI launched a dedicated Codex application for macOS, and in early April it added pay-as-you-go pricing for ChatGPT Business and Enterprise teams using Codex, which shows the company is building pricing around coding workflows at both the individual and team level. (9to5mac.com) (openai.com) There is also a competitive angle. TechCrunch says OpenAI is explicitly pushing against Anthropic, which already had a $100-a-month Claude option, so this is partly a response to a rival that made the middle of the market look real. (techcrunch.com) The pricing ladder now looks less like “free, normal, very expensive” and more like a staircase for how often someone hits limits while coding. If you use ChatGPT to ask questions, $20 may still be enough, but if you spend hours inside Codex, OpenAI now has a plan priced for that exact habit. (openai.com) (techcrunch.com)
