OpenAI pauses Pro plan sign-ups as Astra demand strains infrastructure

OpenAI on Thursday temporarily halted new sign-ups for its $200-per-month ChatGPT Pro plan, citing unprecedented demand for GPT-6 Astra, the company's most powerful model, which launched just one week ago.

"I've Not Seen Anything Like It"

The pause was announced on X by Thibault Sottiaux, OpenAI's head of core products, who oversees ChatGPT and Codex. "To make sure our current users have an incredible experience and continued access to Astra, we are going to pause subscriptions to our $200 Pro plan," Sottiaux wrote. He said the Pro tier "put the most strain" on OpenAI's systems and that the company "wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible".techcrunch+1

The move followed a warning Sottiaux posted on Wednesday. "Demand for Astra is really unprecedented," he wrote at the time. "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".x+1

OpenAI's other subscription tiers — the lower-cost Plus and Go plans, along with API access — remain available. Existing Pro subscribers are unaffected, and the company said it is "working on adding more capacity as fast as we can". OpenAI has not said how long the pause will last or disclosed daily sign-up figures.firstpost+2

Astra Powers a Wave of New Products

The infrastructure strain comes as OpenAI pushes Astra into multiple product launches simultaneously. Also on Thursday, the company unveiled ChatGPT for Financial Services, a tailored version of its enterprise offering built for investment bankers and equity researchers. The product pairs Astra's reasoning capabilities with built-in financial data from providers including LSEG London Stock Exchange Group plc, PitchBook, and Daloopa, and was developed with Morgan Stanley ↘ 1.25% and Evercore ↘ 1.49% as design partners, according to Reuters.reuters

GPT-6 Astra began its rollout on September 3 across ChatGPT Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise plans, as well as through the OpenAI API, Microsoft ↗ 0.16% Azure, and AWS. OpenAI heralded the model as the beginning of the "AGI era," a framing that appears to have stoked demand beyond what its infrastructure could absorb.openai+1

A Capable but Complex Model

Astra's launch has also drawn scrutiny over safety. OpenAI disclosed that the model reached the "Critical" threshold under its cybersecurity Preparedness Framework — meaning it can independently discover and exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in hardened systems. The company temporarily slowed development in August to strengthen safeguards before proceeding with the release.campustechnology+1

OpenAI's help center already reflects the subscription change, noting that "new sign-ups and upgrades to the ChatGPT Pro $200 plan are temporarily paused".openai