# OpenAI pauses $200 ChatGPT Pro sign-ups, citing Astra demand

_Friday, September 11, 2026 at 1:34 PM EDT · AI, Products · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![OpenAI pauses $200 ChatGPT Pro sign-ups, citing Astra demand — Primary](https://media.thenextweb.com/2026/07/openai-dublin-250-jobs-european-headquarters-expansion.jpg)

OpenAI has stopped selling the $200 tier of ChatGPT Pro, saying demand for its Astra model is straining its systems, according to TechCrunch reporting cited by The Next Web.

Existing subscribers keep their plans, and the $100 Pro plan, Plus, Go, the API and enterprise accounts remain on sale. The company's help pages name the paused tier as Pro 20X. For European buyers, a separate constraint persists: Astra reached Microsoft Foundry with no European data zone, and Foundry's six data zone deployments are all American, so no paid option keeps processing inside the EU data boundary. OpenAI gave no reopening date.

## Sources

- [The Next Web](https://thenextweb.com/news/openai-pro-pause-astra-eu-zone)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/k7Dv8GWN4ifuP8B_5KkuL8
Retrieved: 2026-09-12T02:47:50.995Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)