OpenAI puts Pro subscriptions on hold due to Astra demand

OpenAI said it has temporarily disabled new subscriptions to its $200-per-month Pro tier after unusually strong demand for its newest model, Astra, strained the company’s systems. The decision was communicated on X by Thibault (Tibo) Sottiaux, who oversees core products such as Codex and ChatGPT, and he described the Pro tier as the heaviest source of load on OpenAI’s infrastructure. Sottiaux framed the pause as a minimal step to preserve broad access, stressing that other offerings — including the API and lower-cost Go and Plus plans — remain available. He warned earlier that such a move was possible if Astra’s demand continued to surge, saying the company was “pulling all the levers possible to sustain the demand.” OpenAI has not specified how long Pro sign-ups will be disabled or disclosed daily sign-up volumes, leaving the precise scale and expected duration of the pause unclear. The company recently raised usage limits for Codex users, indicating the capacity pressures are a recent development tied to increased adoption. Astra, which began rolling out on September 3 across Pro, Plus, Enterprise, and Business accounts as well as other OpenAI products, has been marketed as a significant advancement in reasoning, coding, and general computer use. OpenAI has described the model as the start of an “AGI era” and a generational leap, language that appears to have amplified interest and contributed to the surge in demand.