OpenAI launches $100 Pro

OpenAI just filled in a pricing hole it had created for itself. Until April 9, 2026, a developer who outgrew the $20 ChatGPT Plus plan had to jump straight to a $200 Pro plan, and now there is a new $100 option in the middle. (community.openai.com, techcrunch.com) The new plan is built around Codex, which is OpenAI’s coding agent inside ChatGPT. OpenAI says Codex can handle feature builds, refactors, reviews, migrations, and release work across parallel projects. (openai.com, developers.openai.com) At $100 a month, the pitch is simple: more room for people who use Codex like a daily tool, not a demo. OpenAI says the new tier gives 5 times the Codex usage of ChatGPT Plus and is meant for longer, higher-effort coding sessions. (community.openai.com, help.openai.com) OpenAI also added a temporary launch bonus. Through May 31, 2026, the company says $100 Pro subscribers can get up to 10 times the Codex usage of Plus and run workflows with limits as high as 20 times Plus for parallel projects. (community.openai.com) The $200 Pro plan did not go away. OpenAI says it remains the highest-usage tier, and its main difference from the new $100 plan is allowance: the $200 version offers 20 times the Codex usage of Plus, while both Pro plans keep the same core features. (help.openai.com) That means OpenAI now has a ladder instead of a cliff. TechCrunch reported the old consumer jump went from $20 to $200, and the new $100 step is aimed at people who need more than hobby-level usage but are not ready for enterprise contracts. (techcrunch.com, help.openai.com) This is showing up just as Codex is turning from a chatbot feature into a work tool. OpenAI says teams on ChatGPT Business and ChatGPT Enterprise can now use pay-as-you-go pricing for Codex, while individuals are getting a heavier personal tier at the same time. (openai.com, developers.openai.com) The company is responding to real demand, not just rearranging a pricing page. OpenAI’s announcement said the new tier arrived to support “the growing use of Codex,” and CNBC reported Codex revenue was running above $2.5 billion in February 2026 after more than doubling since the start of the year. (community.openai.com, cnbc.com) There is also a competitive angle. CNBC says Codex is up against Anthropic’s Claude Code, so a $100 tier gives OpenAI a cleaner answer for professional developers who want more capacity without moving all the way to a company-wide plan. (cnbc.com) The small but important detail is that OpenAI kept the product name “Pro” for both paid upper tiers. The practical split is not new features versus old features, but how much coding work you can push through each month before you hit the ceiling. (help.openai.com, community.openai.com)