OpenAI Adds $100 Per Month ChatGPT Pro Tier With 5x Codex Limits to Compete With Claude Code

OpenAI announced a new $100 per month ChatGPT Pro subscription tier on April 9, offering five times more Codex usage than the $20 Plus plan. The tier is “best for longer, high-effort Codex sessions,” OpenAI said in a post on X, as reported by CNBC and The Verge.

The new tier brings ChatGPT’s personal subscription lineup to five: Free, Go ($8), Plus ($20), Pro ($100), and the existing $200 Pro plan. Both Pro tiers share the same features, but the $200 version has higher usage limits, according to The Verge.

The Claude Code Factor

Multiple outlets framed the move as a direct competitive response to Anthropic’s Claude Code. Anthropic’s $100/month Max 5x tier offers the same price point with elevated Claude Code limits, making the pricing match intentional, according to The Verge.

The competitive pressure is real. Claude Code’s run-rate revenue exceeded $2.5 billion in February 2026, more than doubling since the beginning of the year, CNBC previously reported. Anthropic launched Claude Code to the public in May 2025, giving it a significant head start in the AI coding agent market.

Codex Growth Numbers

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted on X on April 8 that Codex had three million weekly users, and the company would reset usage limits every million users until the platform reaches 10 million, according to CNBC.

OpenAI launched Codex initially in April 2025 and made it widely available in October 2025. In February 2026, the company released a standalone Codex app for Apple computers to push adoption further, per CNBC.

The Tier Proliferation Signal

The subscription tier expansion signals two things. First, demand for AI coding agents is strong enough to support granular pricing segmentation. The gap between $20 and $200 was leaving money on the table from users who exceed Plus limits but find the top tier excessive.

Second, coding agents are becoming the primary driver of subscription economics for both OpenAI and Anthropic. When a company restructures its pricing tiers around a single feature’s usage patterns, that feature is the product.