Since September 10, 2026, you cannot sign up for the $200 ChatGPT Pro plan (Pro 20x). OpenAI has temporarily closed both new sales and upgrades from other plans. Existing Pro 20x subscriptions work as before, and the $100 plan (Pro 5x) is still on sale. If what you want is Codex as a tool rather than the plan itself, you do not need a subscription: you can pay for tokens directly with an API key.
What happened on September 10, 2026
According to OpenAI's Help Center article on the Pro plans, the company paused new sign-ups and upgrades to ChatGPT Pro $200, also called Pro 20x, on September 10, 2026. The pause applies to moves from Free, Go and Plus, and even from Pro $100. There is currently no route to Pro 20x from scratch.
Fortune and CIO reported a reason: demand for the GPT-6 Astra model spiked and OpenAI ran short of compute. The company has not published a blog post saying so. Treat it as the press's version, not something OpenAI has confirmed.
Who the pause does not affect
Existing Pro 20x subscriptions
If you paid for Pro $200 before September 10, you keep the plan unchanged. The pause closes new purchases and upgrades only. Current subscriptions are left alone.
The Pro $100 plan (Pro 5x)
The pause did not touch Pro at $100: new subscriptions are on sale and existing ones keep running. It is a separate plan with a smaller Codex limit multiplier.
One-time return to the plan
People who recently lost access get a separate rule. If you had Pro 20x on September 10, 2026, or it ended in the previous 30 days, OpenAI lets you return to it once, within 30 days after your access ended. There is no automatic renewal: the option is single-use, the window is short, and you have to request it yourself.
ChatGPT plans as of September 2026
The full list, based on OpenAI's official pricing page and the Help Center article on GPT-5.6 in ChatGPT, looks like this.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | unlimited text chats, limited Codex access |
| Go | $8/month | higher limits than Free, limited Codex |
| Plus | $20/month | extended Codex usage across the GPT model line |
| Pro $100 (Pro 5x) | $100/month | Codex limits 5x higher than Plus |
| Pro $200 (Pro 20x) | $200/month, sales paused | Codex limits 20x higher than Plus |
| Business Standard | $20-25/month per seat | from 2 seats, access to ChatGPT, Work and Codex |
| Business Premium | $100-125/month per seat | 5x the usage limits, no 5-hour window |
Business prices are as of this writing, September 2026, and may change. Check openai.com/business/pricing before you buy seats for a team.
Codex without a ChatGPT subscription: pay per token
If you need a working Codex CLI rather than the Pro plan itself, OpenAI's Codex pricing documentation describes a route without a subscription: "Pay for Codex usage based on API pricing". The local Codex surfaces, including the CLI and the IDE extension, accept a separate API key instead of a ChatGPT login. You then pay for the tokens you actually use, not a fixed monthly sum.
From Russia this route helps for another reason. Signing up for ChatGPT directly is hard: Russian cards and a Russian billing address often fail OpenAI's billing checks. codexkey removes both obstacles. It issues a key that works with Codex CLI, accepts Russian cards and SBP (the Russian Faster Payments System), and needs neither a ChatGPT account nor any subscription. Balance top-ups start at $1.
Setup in ~/.codex/config.toml:
model_provider = "codexkey"
model = "gpt-5.6-sol"
[model_providers.codexkey]
name = "codexkey"
base_url = "https://api.codexkey.online/v1"
env_key = "CODEX_KEY"
Choosing a model (sol, terra, luna) and estimating the cost for your workload are covered in Codex CLI with an API key instead of a subscription. If your question is about access from Russia in general rather than the Pro 20x pause, start with Codex in Russia in 2026.
FAQ
Can I buy ChatGPT Pro 20x right now?
No. Since September 10, 2026, OpenAI has stopped both new sales and upgrades to this plan from any other plan. Existing Pro 20x subscriptions keep working, but nobody can sign up again for now.
How does Pro 5x differ from Pro 20x?
Pro $100 (Pro 5x) gives Codex limits 5x higher than Plus, and Pro $200 (Pro 20x) gives 20x. The plans differ by the limit multiplier. The set of models is the same.
What is a ChatGPT Pro subscription?
It is the top tier of ChatGPT plans, for people who need extended Codex limits and priority access to the strongest models in the line. There are two prices, $100 and $200 a month, with different limit multipliers.
Will Pro 20x access come back automatically when the pause ends?
OpenAI has not confirmed an end date for the pause. If your subscription was active when the pause began, or ended in the previous 30 days, you can return to the plan once within 30 days after your access ended. You have to set that up yourself. It does not switch on automatically.
Is an API key cheaper than a Pro subscription?
It depends on volume. With occasional sessions, paying per token almost always costs less than a flat $100 or $200 a month. If you use Codex heavily every day, the flat plan can come out ahead. Estimate your token usage before you choose between a subscription and a key.
Can I pay for ChatGPT Pro with a Russian card?
Direct payment to OpenAI often fails, because billing is tied to supported countries and billing addresses. To use Codex models without that problem, pay for API-key access through a provider that accepts Russian cards and SBP, such as codexkey.