Businesses must pay more: OpenAI's new GPT-5 era marks subscription evolution

Hindustan Times

5 hours ago

OpenAI's Plus subscription, priced at $20 per month or ₹1,999 per month in India, has undergone significant changes ushering in the new GPT-5 dominated landscape. It is now considerably watered down for subscribers, with theoretical usage limits and access to only the latest models now. A case of lost sheen? Undoubtedly, OpenAI's Plus subscription represented a best-value tier for AI users, and remained versatile enough for some level of professional usage too. Now however, the pricier Pro subscription (that's $200 per month, or ₹19,900 in India) becomes more valuable, which makes business sense at a time when OpenAI is talking about PhD-level intelligence and agentic AI capabilities. OpenAI's Plus subscription represented a best-value tier for AI users. (Official photo)
The first change that Plus subscribers will notice is that only three models are listed, of which two are accessible — GPT-5 flagship model for most queries, GPT-5 Thinking for more detailed responses, while GPT-5 Pro remains exclusive to Pro subscribers. Previously, a much wider range of the then latest gen as well a generation older models were available for Plus subscribers. Before the switch a few hours ago, HT noted GPT-4o, o3, o4-mini, o4-mini-high, GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1-mini available — among this, GPT-4o was the default model. Access to these models is gone, for now, for Plus users. If you want that, pay for the Pro subscription.
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'As with GPT-4o, the difference between free and paid access to GPT-5 is usage volume. Pro subscribers get unlimited access to GPT-5, and access to GPT-5 Pro. Plus users can use it comfortably as their default model for everyday questions, with significantly higher usage than free users. Team, Enterprise, and Edu customers can also use GPT-5 comfortably as their default model for everyday work, with generous limits that make it easy for entire organisations to rely on GPT-5,' the company details, in an official statement.
Secondly, the usage limits for Plus subscribers, across GPT-5 and GPT-5 Thinking models, are now listed as 'Expanded'. This isn't a hard-cap, which is why I don't have a specific number to share with you, but dynamic based on a number of factors. OpenAI explains that Plus subscriptions may include usage limits such as message caps, especially during high demand, and these limits may vary based on system conditions.
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At the time of the GPT-4o release a few months earlier, OpenAI had noted, 'We are making GPT‑4o available in the free tier, and to Plus users with up to 5x higher message limits'.
Business case, enterprise pricing
From OpenAI's perspective, these subscription changes represent a sophisticated revenue optimisation strategy that does well to recognise a significant disparity in usage and therefore value derived, when comparing individual consumers and enterprise users. By restricting GPT-5 Pro access to the highest tier, OpenAI is essentially implementing enterprise software pricing principles where the most advanced capabilities — PhD-level reasoning and sophisticated agentic AI, which anyways are positioned as premium enterprise tools rather than consumer products.
Businesses and organisations that wish to replace humans with AI agents, must pay more than a regular user. Companies, be it a consulting firm using GPT-5 Pro to analyse market trends, a biotech company leveraging its reasoning capabilities for drug discovery research, or a law firm utilising its advanced document analysis features, must find justifications for paying significantly more for AI access now.
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The 128K context window (it's a 32k window on Plus subscriptions) is crucial for enterprises processing lengthy contracts, research papers, or technical documentation. At the same time, unlimited access limits should be idea for workplace workflows, which would do well without encountering dynamic usage caps. Token pricing for API, or the application programming interface, too have been slightly tweaked. For instance, GPT-5 for 1 million output tokens costs $10, while the cost with GPT-4.1 was $12 for the same.
By nudging enterprises toward Pro subscriptions, OpenAI is attempting to make a clear distinction between consumer-esque pricing as well as something akin to an enterprise software licensing approach. This strategy also creates a natural and useful customer segmentation, where casual and semi-professional users remain on Plus with 'expanded' access limits (ideally, many users may never hit these dynamic limits), while businesses that require AI as a core operational tool must invest more for Pro subscriptions.
Yet, there are often two sides to any coin. From a consumer perspective, the GPT Plus subscription no longer unlocks access to OpenAI's best model at this time, but a hint of it. This is in stark contrast to the $20 per month outlay for consumers that essentially unlocked the best of AI capability that was on offer. Not to forget, ambiguous (a nicer word is dynamic) limits of usage, before you'll be sent to the back of the queue. It is clear and understandable that OpenAI is giving its subscription tiers more meaning and differentiation. But as the contrast currently stands, a Plus plan seems to be leaning more towards something that risks being classified as 'freemium' — attractive in theory, but limited in practice.