OpenAI pauses new Pro subscriptions amid high Astra demand, says it is straining systems

OpenAI has temporarily stopped accepting new sign-ups for its Pro subscription as demand for its latest and most powerful AI model, Astra, is putting pressure on the company’s systems. The decision was announced by OpenAI product leader Thibault (Tibo) Sottiaux on X. He said the Pro plan places the highest load on the company’s infrastructure. Other plans, including Plus and Go, as well as the API, are still available for users.

Sottiaux said the company chose what it considered the smallest step needed to manage the rising demand. “To make sure our current users have an incredible experience and continued access to Astra, we are going to pause subscriptions to our $200 Pro plan. These put the most strain on our systems and we wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest access possible. All other plans and the api remain available,” he wrote in his post.

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To make sure our current users have an incredible experience and continued access to Astra, we are going to pause subscriptions to our $200 Pro plan. These put the most strain on our systems and we wanted to take the smallest step that allows us to continue giving the broadest… https://t.co/WhLEm3HBL7

— Tibo (@thsottiaux) September 10, 2026

Sottiaux had already warned that OpenAI could pause new Pro subscriptions if demand continued to rise. On Wednesday, Sottiaux described interest in Astra as “unprecedented.”

“Demand for Astra is really unprecedented. We’re pulling all the levers possible to sustain the demand, but I’ve not seen anything like it until now and we went through very steep growth before. Priority will always be to keep excellent service for existing users, but we might have to pause new Pro subscriptions for a bit if this continues,” he posted earlier on Wednesday.

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The company has not revealed how long the pause will last. It has also not shared how many new users are signing up each day. This makes it difficult to know the exact scale of the demand.

For those unaware, Astra was launched last week and is being made available across several OpenAI plans. These include Pro, Plus, Enterprise and Business accounts. OpenAI has described Astra as a major step towards its vision of AGI.