Key takeaways
- As of November 2026 ChatGPT Plus costs $20 a month and Pro comes in three monthly tiers at $100, $200 and $500, with Ultrafast only on Pro 500.
- OpenAI doubled the Codex and Work allowance on Pro 100 and Pro 500, reopened Pro 200 to new subscribers and cancelled a cut announced on September 29, while Plus usage is unchanged.
- Plus has a five-hour Codex window on top of weekly limits and Pro currently has none, and a usage tracker such as UsageAtlas shows how often that window actually stops you.
ChatGPT Plus vs Pro is no longer a two-plan choice. Against the $20 Plus plan, OpenAI now sells Pro at $100, $200 and $500 a month, and for people who code with Codex the gap comes down to limits: Plus has a five-hour window on top of weekly caps, while Pro currently has no five-hour limit and a bigger shared allowance at every tier.
The lineup changed again this autumn. Here is where it stands according to OpenAI's Pro tiers help article and Codex pricing page, read on November 4, 2026.
What changed
- Pro 500 arrived as the new top tier. It is the only personal plan with Ultrafast for GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.
- Pro 200 is back for new subscribers. OpenAI cancelled a Pro 200 allowance cut it had announced by email on September 29, and subscribers on the lower allowance had it doubled to match.
- Pro 100 and Pro 500 doubled their Codex and ChatGPT Work allowance.
- Plus stayed where it was. OpenAI says Plus usage is unchanged.
OpenAI adds its own caveat: a bigger allowance does not promise twice as many finished tasks, since model, context and settings still decide how far it stretches.
Plus and Pro side by side
| Plus | Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $20 a month | $100, $200 or $500 a month, monthly billing only |
| Codex surfaces | Web, CLI, IDE extension, iOS | The same |
| Five-hour limit | Yes, plus weekly limits | None for now; weekly limits may apply |
| Allowance | OpenAI gives estimates per model | Larger, and larger again on each tier |
| Ultrafast | No | Pro 500 only |
| Monthly API credits | None | $100, $200 or $500 |
| Past the limit | Buy credits | Buy credits |
For scale, OpenAI estimates that Plus fits 15 to 160 local GPT-6.1 Sol messages per five hours and stresses that the figure is not a fixed limit. Neither the help article nor the pricing page gives Pro as a multiple of Plus.
The API credit catch
Pro's monthly API credits look like a coding perk. They are not one for Codex. OpenAI's API documentation says the benefit does not cover Codex used through an API key and does not raise signed-in Codex limits. The credits are meant for building apps and agents on the OpenAI API.
Who should pick which
- Plus fits a few focused Codex sessions a week, if the five-hour window rarely gets in the way. It also fits people who already pay for a second coding agent, such as Claude Code, that can pick up the overflow.
- Pro 100 fits people who hit the five-hour wall several times a week, or spend close to $80 a month on credits.
- Pro 200 suits heavy daily agent work where the Pro 100 weekly allowance runs short.
- Pro 500 is for anyone who needs Ultrafast or the largest allowance. Ultrafast spends included usage at 8 times the Standard rate, so it eats even that allowance quickly.
All tiers bill monthly, which keeps a trial to one month's cost.
Deciding with your own numbers
OpenAI's usage dashboard and the /status command in the Codex CLI show where you stand today. What they do not show is the pattern across weeks, which is what this choice depends on.
UsageAtlas, a free and open-source desktop tracker for Windows, macOS and Linux, records Codex's session and weekly windows, the credit balance where Codex reports it, and token history by model with an estimated cost. It works locally, needs no account and does not read prompts or responses. Two weeks of that record show whether Plus is the thing slowing you down. UsageAtlas's own guide on Codex limits by plan covers the same ground from the tracking side.
Its cost figures are estimates, and OpenAI's billing remains the record. And if Ultrafast is the reason you are looking, there is nothing to measure: only Pro 500 has it.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between ChatGPT Plus and Pro for Codex?
Both include Codex on the web, in the CLI, in the IDE extension and on iOS. Plus has a five-hour window and weekly limits; Pro currently has no five-hour limit, a larger allowance on each tier, and Ultrafast on Pro 500.
Is Pro 200 still available?
Yes. OpenAI's help center says new Pro 200 subscriptions are available again at $200 a month with the increased Codex and Work allowance.
Can I switch between Pro tiers?
OpenAI says you can see your subscription and the plan changes open to you under Settings > My Plan in ChatGPT.