OpenAI just reshaped its subscription lineup. On April 9, 2026, the company introduced a new $100/month ChatGPT Pro tier, sitting squarely between the existing $20/month Plus plan and the $200/month Pro plan. The move is a direct response to the explosive growth of Codex, OpenAI's AI coding agent, which has become one of the company's fastest-growing products.

As OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman wrote on X: "It is very nice to see Codex getting so much love. We are launching a $100 ChatGPT Pro tier by very popular demand." That's not marketing language. The demand data backs it up.

More than 3 million people globally are using Codex every week, "up 5x in the past three months, with usage growing more than 70% month over month." At that growth rate, a single pricing tier between $20 and $200 was always going to be needed.

What the New $100 Pro Plan Actually Includes

The new $100/month Pro tier provides 5x more Codex usage than the $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan, and OpenAI says it is best for longer, high-effort Codex sessions.

According to OpenAI, "both Pro plans include the same core capabilities. The main difference is usage allowance: Pro $100 unlocks 5x higher usage than Plus (and 10x Codex usage vs. Plus for a limited time), while Pro $200 unlocks 20x usage than Plus."

Pro subscribers will have access to all Pro features, including the Pro model and unlimited access to Instant and Thinking models.

Here's a quick breakdown of the full plan stack:

  • Plus ($20/month): Steady, day-to-day Codex usage. Good for a few focused sessions per week.
  • Pro ($100/month): 5x more Codex than Plus. Built for longer, high-effort sessions throughout the week.
  • Pro ($200/month): Runs your most demanding workflows continuously, even across parallel projects, with 20x higher limits than Plus.

Through May 31, customers who subscribe to the $100/month Pro plan will get up to 10x usage of ChatGPT Plus on Codex as a limited-time promotional bonus.

Plus Users Are Getting Rebalanced, Not Just Upgraded

There's a detail buried in this announcement that Plus subscribers should pay attention to. OpenAI is "rebalancing" Codex usage in Plus to support more sessions throughout the week, instead of longer sessions in a single day.

OpenAI says the ChatGPT Plus plan is the best offer for steady, day-to-day usage of Codex, while the more expensive $100/month plan is a "more accessible" upgrade path for heavier daily use. In practice, this means Plus users who were burning through their daily quota on marathon refactoring sessions may notice a different usage pattern going forward. The ceiling per day comes down; the weekly distribution spreads out.

If you've been hitting Codex limits regularly on Plus, this is OpenAI's way of telling you the $100 plan is where you belong.

What Codex Can Do at These Usage Levels

For anyone new to Codex, here's the context. Codex is an AI coding agent that helps you write, review, and ship code faster. You can pair with it in your local tools or delegate work for it to complete in the cloud. Starting from a prompt or spec, Codex navigates your repo to edit files, run commands, and execute tests. It ships new features, fixes bugs, brainstorms solutions, and works across the Codex CLI and IDE extension in VSCode, Cursor, and Windsurf.

Each task is processed independently in a separate, isolated environment preloaded with your codebase. Codex can read and edit files, as well as run commands including test harnesses, linters, and type checkers. Task completion typically takes between 1 and 30 minutes, depending on complexity, and you can monitor Codex's progress in real time.

The higher usage tiers matter because longer, more complex tasks consume significantly more tokens. The model adapts how much time it spends thinking dynamically based on the complexity of the task, combining two essential skills: pairing with developers in interactive sessions, and persistent, independent execution on longer tasks. That means Codex feels snappier on small, well-defined requests and works longer on complex tasks like big refactors.

The Competitive Context

OpenAI makes no bones that this new pricing tier is to challenge Anthropic, which has long had a $100/month option for Claude.

With the $100 plan, OpenAI now has pricing tiers similar to Anthropic. Anthropic has a $20/month Pro plan, a Max 5x plan for $100/month, and a Max 20x plan for $200/month. The mirroring is hard to miss. Two competing AI companies, two near-identical pricing ladders, both anchored around their coding agents.

The competitive friction intensified on April 4, 2026, when Anthropic officially blocked Claude subscriptions from being used to provide the intelligence for third-party agentic AI harnesses. OpenAI is positioning Codex as the open alternative for developers who want high-volume agentic coding without those kinds of restrictions.

Pricing Changes and Credit System Updates

Beyond the new plan, OpenAI has also updated how Codex usage is metered. As of April 2, 2026, Codex pricing was updated to align with API token usage instead of per-message pricing. This change applies to new and existing Plus, Pro, ChatGPT Business, and new ChatGPT Enterprise plans.

The updated token-based format makes credit usage easier to map to actual model activity, aligns Codex pricing more closely with token-based metering, and gives clearer visibility into how input, cached input, and output contribute to total usage.

ChatGPT Plus and Pro users who reach their usage limit can purchase additional credits to continue working without needing to upgrade their existing plan. So if you're on the $100 plan and hit a wall mid-project, you're not stuck.

For business teams, for a limited time, eligible ChatGPT Business workspaces can earn up to $500 in credits when their team members start using Codex.

Key Technical Highlights

  • Codex currently supports the GPT-5.1-Codex model family, with Max as the default and Mini as an optional lighter model.
  • GPT-5.3-Codex-Spark is in research preview for ChatGPT Pro users only, running on specialized low-latency hardware with a separate usage limit that may adjust based on demand.
  • Users approaching usage limits can switch to the GPT-5.4-mini model to extend their usage limits further.
  • OpenAI prioritized security and transparency when designing Codex so users can verify its outputs. Users can check Codex's work through citations, terminal logs, and test results.
  • The Codex app includes built-in support for worktrees, so multiple agents can work on the same repo without conflicts. Each agent works on an isolated copy of your code, allowing you to explore different paths without affecting your codebase.

Final Thoughts

The $100 plan is a sensible move. OpenAI is filling a real gap in its lineup for developers who outgrew Plus but don't need the unlimited firepower of the $200 tier. The 5x Codex multiplier is the core value here, and the limited-time 10x promotional boost through May 31 gives new subscribers a meaningful window to stress-test what the plan can actually handle before the limits normalize.

What's worth watching is the Plus rebalancing. Spreading usage across the week instead of concentrating it in single-day sessions is a subtle but meaningful change for anyone running long autonomous tasks. If your workflow involves kicking off a multi-hour refactor and letting Codex run, the $100 plan is now the intended home for that use case, not Plus.

The competitive mirror with Anthropic's pricing tiers is obvious, and OpenAI isn't hiding it. Whether Codex can match Claude Code on quality for complex, real-world engineering tasks is the actual question developers will answer over the next few months. What do you think? Are you upgrading to the new Pro tier, or sticking with Plus? Drop your thoughts in the comments.

FAQ

What is the new ChatGPT Pro $100/month plan?

The new $100/month Pro tier provides 5x more Codex usage than the $20/month ChatGPT Plus plan and is best for longer, high-effort Codex sessions.

How does the $100 Pro plan differ from the $200 Pro plan?

Both Pro plans include the same core capabilities. The main difference is usage allowance: Pro $100 unlocks 5x higher usage than Plus, while Pro $200 unlocks 20x usage than Plus.

Is there a limited-time bonus for the $100 Pro plan?

Through May 31, customers who subscribe to the $100/month Pro plan will get up to 10x usage of ChatGPT Plus on Codex.

What happens if I hit my Codex usage limit?

ChatGPT Plus and Pro users who reach their usage limit can purchase additional credits to continue working without needing to upgrade their existing plan.

What is Codex and what can it do?

Codex is an AI coding agent that helps you write, review, and ship code faster. You can pair with it in your local tools or delegate work for it to complete in the cloud. Starting from a prompt or spec, Codex navigates your repo to edit files, run commands, and execute tests.