OpenAI Is Reportedly Preparing a $500 ChatGPT Pro Max Plan With Faster Codex

OpenAI Quietly Tests a $500-a-Month ChatGPT Tier

OpenAI appears to be preparing a new subscription tier called ChatGPT Pro Max, priced at $500 per month (with one version of the interface showing $600 after local taxes), according to strings discovered in the company's backend code. The tier was first reported by TestingCatalog on September 24, 2026, and independently corroborated by AI researcher Tibor Blaho, who posted matching strings pulled from ChatGPT's subscription interface to X. BleepingComputer covered the discovery on September 25, 2026, noting that OpenAI has made no public announcement and its official pricing page still lists just six tiers: Free, Go, Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise.

Details

How the Discovery Happened

Strings in the Subscription Interface

TestingCatalog found references to a "Pro Max" plan embedded in ChatGPT's subscription flow, positioned above the existing $200/month Pro plan. The description text was reportedly nearly identical to the current Pro plan's, apart from one distinguishing line promising "Fastest Work and Codex." Blaho's independent post of the same strings on X lent additional weight to the find, though both remain unofficial, code-level signals rather than a confirmed rollout.

What "Faster Codex" Might Mean

Codex is OpenAI's coding-agent product, capable of running autonomous jobs that continue for hours or, in agentic workflows, days. Work is described in the leaked strings as OpenAI's mode for longer-running general tasks. For workloads like these, inference speed compounds significantly over long sessions, which is why coverage has speculated Pro Max could route requests through Cerebras hardware — the same infrastructure reportedly behind a prior "Codex-Spark" demo that ran at more than 1,000 tokens per second. Neither OpenAI nor Cerebras has confirmed any such integration, and this connection remains speculative.

Timing and Context

The signals surfaced just days after OpenAI paused new sign-ups and upgrades to the $200 Pro plan on September 10, 2026, reportedly due to demand following the September 3, 2026 launch of GPT-6 Astra. A capacity-constrained flagship tier appearing alongside a newly discovered, more expensive plan suggests OpenAI may be preparing to segment its highest-paying users by compute priority rather than simply raising the existing Pro price. Some coverage points to OpenAI's DevDay on September 29, 2026 as a possible venue for further details, though this has not been confirmed by OpenAI.

What's Confirmed vs. What's Speculative

Why It Matters

For IT and engineering leaders evaluating AI coding-assistant budgets, a $500-a-month per-seat tier — well above Anthropic's Claude Max ($250/month) and Google's AI Ultra (approximately $250/month) — would reset the ceiling for mainstream individual AI subscriptions. Even as an unconfirmed leak, it signals where OpenAI expects willingness to pay for compute-heavy agentic coding to land, which matters for teams budgeting Codex, Claude Code, or Gemini-based coding agents at scale. If OpenAI is capacity-constrained enough to pause its $200 tier while testing a $500 one, organizations relying on ChatGPT Pro for developer workflows should watch for potential throttling, waitlists, or forced upgrades before committing further seats.

Recommendations

For IT Procurement and Budget Owners

• Hold off on locking in new ChatGPT Pro seats given the sign-up pause; confirm current seat status before renewal cycles.
• Model a scenario where premium agentic-coding access moves to a materially higher price point, and compare total cost against alternatives such as Claude Code or enterprise GitHub Copilot tiers.

For Engineering and Security Teams

• Treat unconfirmed capability claims (like Cerebras-backed inference) as unverified until OpenAI documents them — don't architect workflows around rumored throughput numbers.
• Review which long-running Codex or agentic jobs would actually benefit from higher inference speed versus jobs where the current Pro tier is sufficient, to avoid overpaying for capacity that isn't needed.

For Individual Developers

• Avoid urgency-driven upgrades based on leak coverage; wait for an official OpenAI announcement and published terms before switching plans.
• Track OpenAI's DevDay (September 29, 2026) and the official pricing page for confirmation before budgeting for a higher tier.

Key Takeaways

1. Backend strings discovered by TestingCatalog and researcher Tibor Blaho point to an unannounced ChatGPT Pro Max plan priced at $500/month ($600 in some regions after tax).
2. The plan's distinguishing feature is described only as "Fastest Work and Codex," implying accelerated inference for long-running coding and agentic tasks.
3. A possible link to Cerebras hardware is speculative and has not been confirmed by either company.
4. The discovery follows OpenAI's September 10, 2026 pause on new sign-ups and upgrades to the existing $200/month Pro plan, reportedly due to demand from GPT-6 Astra.
5. OpenAI has not confirmed Pro Max publicly; its official pricing page still lists six tiers with no mention of the new plan.
6. If launched at $500/month, Pro Max would exceed Claude Max ($250/month) and Google AI Ultra (approximately $250/month), resetting the price ceiling for premium AI coding subscriptions.

Sources

• BleepingComputer: OpenAI is preparing a $500 ChatGPT Pro Max plan with faster Codex