Technology and Science11 September, 20262 min read
OpenAI Halts ChatGPT Pro $200 Sign-Ups as GPT-6 Astra Demand Strains Systems
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OpenAI pauses new Pro subscriptions due to Astra-driven infrastructure strain. Pro plan costs $200 per month and grants access to GPT-6 Astra.
9 outlets told this the same way.
Astra Demand Strains Pro
OpenAI temporarily halted new sign-ups for its ChatGPT Pro plan, priced at $200 per month, as demand for its latest AI model, GPT-6 Astra, surged and strained the company’s computing resources. TechCrunch reported that OpenAI’s product leader Thibault (Tibo) Sottiaux said the Pro plan “puts the most strain on its systems,” prompting the company to disable sign-ups for that tier.
OpenAI said the pause is meant to maintain service quality for existing subscribers while making Astra available to as many users as possible, and it left new sign-ups open for the API and lower-cost Go and Plus plans. Astra was unveiled on September 3 and is being rolled out across OpenAI’s plans, including Pro, Plus, Enterprise, and Business accounts, with OpenAI describing it as a major leap in AI reasoning, coding, and computer use.
Tibo’s Warning and X
Sottiaux had previously warned that the company might restrict new Pro sign-ups if Astra demand persisted, writing that “Demand for Astra is really unprecedented.” In that earlier warning, he added that OpenAI’s priority would remain “to keep excellent service for existing users,” but that it “might have to pause new Pro subscriptions for a bit if this continues.”
Multiple outlets tied the decision to infrastructure pressure, including TechCrunch’s account that OpenAI had not disclosed how long Pro sign-ups would be disabled or how many people were signing up daily. The Korean-language report in 조선일보 also said OpenAI had not disclosed how long the suspension would last or the scale of daily new subscribers, while noting that Sottiaux said, “We have experienced very steep growth before, but nothing like this,” and that he had warned restrictions could follow if the situation persisted.
What Stays Available Next
OpenAI said the restriction does not apply to other ways of accessing its services, with TechCrunch stating that “other plans, including the API and lower-cost Go and Plus plans, remain available.” The model’s rollout continued across Pro, Plus, Enterprise, and Business accounts after Astra launched on September 3, and TechCrunch described Astra as OpenAI’s newest and most powerful model.
In the same TechCrunch account, OpenAI warned it had not said how long Pro sign-ups may be disabled or how many people sign up daily, leaving the timing of any return to normal access uncertain. 조선일보 framed the episode as a shift in the bottleneck of AI competition toward securing the computing infrastructure needed to provide models as actual services, noting that newer AI models require more computational resources during the reasoning process.