OpenAI adds a $500/month Pro 500 plan and the Ultrafast speed tier, and halves the $200 Pro allowance
At DevDay on Sept 29, 2026, OpenAI launched "Ultrafast", a premium speed tier (up to 8x faster token generation, about 300 tokens/s, in Codex and up to 6x in the API, at 6x the API price), and "Pro 500", a $500/month ChatGPT plan with 25x the Plus allowance and Ultrafast. It also reopened the $200 Pro plan to new subscribers but cut its ChatGPT Work/Codex allowance from 20x to 10x Plus and its GPT-6 Pro messages from 200 to 100 a week. OpenAI's Thibault Sottiaux framed the change as moving subscriptions toward API-equivalent value.
Key facts
- Pro 500: $500/month, 'our highest usage allowance at 25 times the ChatGPT Plus allowance', includes Ultrafast; available now
- Ultrafast: up to 8x faster (300 tokens/s) in Codex and up to 6x in the API; GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast available in the API (all users, low rate limits) and in ChatGPT Work/Codex on Pro 500 and Enterprise; GPT-6.1 Sol Ultrafast 'coming soon'
- Ultrafast API price for gpt-6-astra: $60 input / $6 cached input / $75 cache writes / $300 output per 1M tokens (≤272K context); $120/$12/$150/$450 above 272K; i.e. 6x standard
- API usage: set service_tier: "ultrafast" with model gpt-6-astra; WebSockets recommended; default Ultrafast limits 500K TPM (tiers 1–3), 1M (tier 4), 5M (tier 5); preview access for GPT-5.6 Sol via account teams
- New plan multipliers (Sottiaux): Plus = 1x, Pro 100 = 5x, Pro 200 = 10x (was 20x); Pro 500 = 25x
- Pro 200 changes: GPT-6 Pro messages in Chat cut from 200 to 100/week; existing subscribers keep previous allowance through Oct 29, 2026, then get a one-time grant of 62,500 credits (worth $2,500 per The New Stack) expiring Dec 31, 2026; the 5-hour limit will not return
- Sottiaux (Sept 29, 12.8M views): 'if you do the math, it will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan'
- In ChatGPT, Ultrafast draws from included usage first, then from purchased credits
- Ultrafast first appeared on Aug 13, 2026 as an API preview for GPT-5.6 Sol ('up to 14X the speed', up to 750 output tokens/s, powered by Cerebras); DevDay made it broadly available for GPT-6 Astra
- Pre-event reports had described a $500/month 'ChatGPT Pro Max' plan; it shipped as 'Pro 500'
What happened
OpenAI changed its ChatGPT subscription tiers on DevDay:
- Pro 500 ($500/month) is the new top consumer plan. It gives 25x the Plus allowance and access to Ultrafast. A $500 plan had been reported before the event under the name "Pro Max".
- Pro 200 reopened to new subscribers after a pause, but at half its former relative allowance (10x Plus instead of 20x). GPT-6 Pro chat messages fall from 200 to 100 a week. Subscribers who were active at the cutoff keep their old allowance through Oct 29, 2026. After that, The New Stack reports they receive a one-time grant of 62,500 credits that expires Dec 31, 2026.
- Pro 100 stays at 5x. All Pro tiers include one dot, and dot conversations don't draw on usage.
Sottiaux (head of product and platform, per The New Stack) announced the Pro 200 change hours before the keynote. That post reached about 12.8M views. He said the new usage "will net out at half the dollar in API spend compared to the old Pro $200 plan". He argued that cheaper models (GPT-6 Sol and Luna at half price) mean subscribers still get more work done than a month earlier. He said OpenAI will not reintroduce the 5-hour limit, and that over time API prices should fall so far that "it makes sense for most to buy usage as needed". Press and developer reaction to the cut was largely negative (The New Stack, Engadget, CNET).
Ultrafast is a new API service tier (service_tier: "ultrafast"). It is broadly available for GPT-6 Astra at 6x standard prices
($60/$300 per 1M input/output tokens). GPT-5.6 Sol has preview access, and GPT-6.1 Sol is "coming soon". OpenAI's existing "Fast mode"
costs 2x standard.
Why it matters
Frontier labs have used a $200/month top tier since late 2024, and the 20x-Plus allowance was the norm among them. OpenAI broke that pattern in both directions: it cut the $200 plan's allowance and added a $500 tier. It also sells speed as its own product. The stated aim is to bring flat-rate subscriptions in line with pay-per-use API pricing.
Changelog
- 2026-09-29: created.
Videos (1)
Live from OpenAI DevDay 2026: Keynote
OpenAI · 2026-09-29 · officialDescription by Gemini, which watched the video:
(pending) Official livestream of Sam Altman's DevDay 2026 opening keynote (Fort Mason, San Francisco, Sept 29, 2026, 10:00 PT). It covered dots, GPT-6.1 Sol, Ultrafast, Pro 500, ChatGPT Space and Pages, and Codex and API launches. The YouTube page was created on Sept 23 as a scheduled stream.
Related posts (2)
- Sottiaux: Pro $200 reopens with usage that nets out at half the API-dollar value Thibault Sottiaux @thsottiaux · x · 2026-09-29
Pre-announced the Pro 200 allowance cut hours before DevDay; ~12.8M views and heavy developer backlash. - Sottiaux: new plan multipliers Plus 1x, Pro 100 5x, Pro 200 10x Thibault Sottiaux @thsottiaux · x · 2026-09-29
Clearest statement of the new ChatGPT plan allowance ratios (~1.2M views).
Related events
- OpenAI DevDay 2026: dots agents, GPT-6.1 Sol, Ultrafast, a $500 Pro plan and 20+ launches ★★★★
- OpenAI releases GPT-6.1 Sol: near-Astra performance at one-fifth of Astra's price ★★★★
- OpenAI launches dots, always-on personal agents powered by GPT-6 Astra ★★★★
- OpenAI releases GPT-6 Astra, its first GPT-6 model ★★★★★
- OpenAI cuts GPT-5.6 Luna price 80% and Terra 20% ★★
Sources (14)
- officialOpenAI: DevDay 2026 Recap (Ultrafast, Pro 500)
- docsOpenAI Help: About ChatGPT Pro tiers
- docsOpenAI API docs: Ultrafast mode
- docsOpenAI API pricing: Ultrafast table
- officialOpenAI: Previewing Ultrafast mode: GPT-5.6 Sol at up to 14X the speed (Aug 13, 2026)
- docsChatGPT docs: agent speed configuration
- officialThibault Sottiaux on X: Pro $200 usage change
- officialThibault Sottiaux on X: new plan multipliers
- pressEngadget: OpenAI adds $500(!) Pro subscription, nerfs its existing $200 tier
- pressThe New Stack: OpenAI halves $200 plan allowance, launches $500 plan
- pressThe Decoder: OpenAI reopens its $200 Pro plan but cuts API credits in half
- pressThe Decoder: Ultrafast pricing ($60/$300 for Astra)
- pressCNBC live blog: OpenAI launching new Pro tier
- pressCNET: Everything announced at OpenAI DevDay
id: 2026-09-29-chatgpt-pro-500-ultrafast · updated 2026-09-29 · open in the interactive timeline