OpenAI reopens sign-ups for its $200/month Pro tier while halving the API credits provided per dollar to encourage pay-per-use, and removes the five-hour cap

Your API credits for OpenAI models now go twice as far as they did yesterday.

OpenAI has reopened sign-ups for its $200 per month Pro tier, coinciding with a significant adjustment to its API credit system. The company has effectively halved the amount of API credits customers receive for each dollar spent, shifting towards a pay-per-use model. This change is accompanied by the removal of the previous five-hour usage cap for Pro subscribers, allowing them to distribute their weekly allotment of credits more flexibly. OpenAI employee Thibault Sottiaux indicated that newer models, GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, are being offered at half the API price of their predecessors. This strategic shift aims to align revenue more closely with the actual value derived from AI usage by businesses.

OpenAI's move signifies a broader industry trend away from heavily subsidized subscription services towards a usage-based pricing structure, a model already adopted by competitors like Microsoft for certain services. This recalibration allows AI providers to more directly tie their revenue to the tangible value customers extract from their AI models. The company anticipates that future API price reductions will eventually narrow the gap between subscription benefits and pay-as-you-go options, making the latter more appealing for most users.

This strategic pivot encourages customers to optimize their AI usage, potentially leading to more efficient resource allocation and a clearer understanding of AI's cost-benefit. For AI developers and businesses, this means a closer link between the AI services consumed and the financial returns generated. The removal of the usage cap also offers greater flexibility, empowering users to manage their AI consumption according to dynamic needs rather than fixed time constraints.