# ChatGPT Pro 500 ChatGPT Pro 500 is the most expensive personal plan of [[ChatGPT]]: $500 per month, billed monthly (there is no annual option). [[OpenAI]] introduced it on 29 September 2026 as the third Pro tier, next to Pro 100 ($100) and Pro 200 ($200). The number in the name is the price in US dollars. It buys two things on top of the other Pro tiers: the highest included usage allowance of the three, and access to **GPT-6 Astra Ultrafast** in ChatGPT Work and [[OpenAI Codex|Codex]]. Everything else (the feature set) is shared with Pro 100 and Pro 200. ## What it includes Every Pro tier gets everything in Plus, and also: - Pro reasoning powered by [[GPT-6 Astra]] - Longer Codex and ChatGPT Work sessions, with no five-hour limit in Work and Codex (weekly and model-specific limits still apply) - Dot, OpenAI's always-on agent (rolling out, adults only, not in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland at launch) - Unlimited and faster image creation, maximum deep research, memory and context - Bigger context windows than Plus: 128K tokens for Instant models (Plus: 54K) and 400K for reasoning models (Plus: 256K) Pro 500 adds on top: - **The largest included allowance.** OpenAI doesn't publish a number. Its pricing pages only say "more usage". Commenters on [[Hacker News]] and independent write-ups report 25 times the Plus allowance; one commenter says Sam Altman gave that figure on the launch livestream. Treat it as reported, not official - **Astra Ultrafast.** Up to 8x faster token generation than Astra in Standard mode (Codex measurement; it's not 8x faster task completion). It burns the included allowance at 8 times the Standard rate, and purchased credits at 6 times. Among Pro plans, only Pro 500 has it; buying credits on Pro 100 or Pro 200 doesn't unlock it. It isn't available to workspaces that need inference residency outside the US When the included allowance runs out, purchased credits take over for eligible features (Codex, ChatGPT Work, the Word/Excel/PowerPoint integrations). ## Where it sits in the lineup | Plan | Price / month | Usage (reported multiple of Plus) | Ultrafast | |---|---|---|---| | Free | $0 | Limited | No | | Go | $8 | More than Free | No | | Plus | $20 | 1x (baseline) | No | | Pro 100 | $100 | 5x (reported) | No | | Pro 200 | $200 | 10x (reported, down from 20x) | No | | Pro 500 | $500 | 25x (reported) | Yes | The multiples come from an OpenAI email to Pro 200 subscribers (quoted on Hacker News) and from commenters, not from OpenAI's pricing pages. If they hold, usage now scales linearly with price: one Pro 500 equals 25 Plus subscriptions. Before September 2026, Pro 200 was the volume deal at 20x for $200. That deal is gone. OpenAI's Tibo (Thibault Sottiaux) explained why on X: Pro usage is now pegged to API prices, so it grows only as API prices fall. European prices differ from the dollar amounts: one HN commenter reported €103, €229 and €509.99 for the three Pro tiers. ## Who it's for The plan makes sense for a narrow group: - People who already ran several Pro 200 accounts and want a single one - Heavy Codex and ChatGPT Work users who keep agents busy all day - Anyone whose time is worth more than tokens, for whom Ultrafast's 8x speed matters more than the 8x drain on the allowance For everyone else, Plus or a lower Pro tier covers it. And the quota is a black box: OpenAI states the tier order ("Pro 500 offers the highest included usage of the three plans") but no token or message counts, so you can't know what $500 buys until you hit the limit. I'd only consider it if Codex is my main coding agent AND I'm already hitting Pro 200 limits every week. Even then, the API or a second provider is a real alternative (see [[AI Cost Management]]). The launch, the Pro 200 cut and the community reaction are covered in [[2026-09-29 ChatGPT Pro 500 - the $500 plan that came with a Pro 200 cut]]. ## References - OpenAI Help Center, About ChatGPT Pro tiers: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/9793128-about-chatgpt-pro-tiers - ChatGPT release notes (29 September 2026): https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes - ChatGPT pricing: https://chatgpt.com/pricing - ChatGPT Pro plan page: https://chatgpt.com/plans/pro/ - Codex speed modes (Fast, Ultrafast): https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/agent-configuration/speed - Codex and ChatGPT Work pricing: https://learn.chatgpt.com/docs/pricing - Kingy AI, Pro 500 vs Pro 200: https://kingy.ai/blog/chatgpt-pro-500/ - MindStudio, what the $500 plan gets you: https://www.mindstudio.ai/blog/chatgpt-pro-500-plan-pricing - Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49896975 - Tibo (OpenAI) on the Pro 200 change, X: https://x.com/thsottiaux/status/2104823812042940713 ## Related - [[2026-09-29 ChatGPT Pro 500 - the $500 plan that came with a Pro 200 cut]] - [[ChatGPT]] - [[OpenAI]] - [[GPT-6 Astra]] - [[OpenAI Codex]] - [[AI Cost Management]] - [[Subscription business model]]