OpenAI puts Pro subscriptions on hold due to Astra demand

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OpenAI launched its most powerful model yet, Astra, on September 3, 2026, positioning it as the start of the 'AGI era' and a major leap in reasoning, coding, and computer use. The reception exceeded what the company could handle. To protect existing users' service quality, OpenAI paused new sign-ups for its $200/month Pro plan — the tier that places the heaviest computational load on its infrastructure. Product lead Thibault Sottiaux, who oversees Codex and ChatGPT, announced the pause on X, saying it was 'the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible.' The API, Plus, and Go tiers remain open. The company had already signaled the pause was possible two days earlier, when Sottiaux described demand as unlike anything he had seen despite OpenAI's history of steep growth. There is no stated timeline for when Pro sign-ups will resume, nor has OpenAI disclosed sign-up volumes. Codex usage limits were also raised last month — suggesting the demand surge accelerated quickly after Astra's release. For practitioners, the pause illustrates that frontier model deployments continue to strain even the best-resourced AI infrastructure. The demand signal also pressures competitors like Anthropic, Google, and Meta to accelerate their own frontier model timelines.