OpenAI Just Cut ChatGPT Pro's Price in Half
While ChatGPT may have kicked off the generative AI era we now live in, it is far from alone these days. There is steep competition from multiple companies in this space, including Google, Anthropic, and even Microsoft—which has a huge financial stake in OpenAI. To compete, it seems OpenAI is trying to make its paid subscription plans more attractive to users, as the company just cut the price of ChatGPT Pro in half.
ChatGPT Pro now starts at $100
As reported by TechCrunch, OpenAI's new pricing model now offers a Pro plan at $100 per month, down from $200 per month. That now gives users a choice between the following: a free plan, which comes with ads; a Go plan offering more usage limits for $8 per month (still with ads); a Plus plan with extra models and exclusive features for $20 per month; and, now, the Pro plan, with the most usage limits across all of the company's models and features, for $100 per month. OpenAI doesn't list a $200 plan anymore, but it confirmed to TechCrunch that option is still available.
If you use ChatGPT to answer your everyday questions, you might balk at the idea of spending $100 a month on the chatbot, let alone $200. But Pro plans aren't targeted at the everyday user; instead, the idea is for coders who rely on AI to help with programs to subscribe. In this case, that's through Codex, OpenAI's coding tool. OpenAI told TechCrunch that its Pro plan now offers five times more Codex access than the Plus plan, which might appeal to power users. (The hidden $200 plan offers limits that are 20 times higher than Plus, or four times higher than the $100 Pro plan.)
Power users are who OpenAI is going after, too—especially those who may be tempted by Anthropic's Claude Code tool, which also offers a $100-per-month plan. This isn't speculation, either: An OpenAI spokesperson directly acknowledged how they believe Codex offers more for the money than Claude Code: “The new $100 Pro Tier is designed to give developers more practical coding capacity for the money, especially during high-intensity work sessions where limits matter most. Compared with Claude Code, Codex delivers more coding capacity per dollar across paid tiers, with the difference showing up most clearly during active coding use."
The AI race continues to heat up
OpenAI still has the majority of the generative AI user base. Back in February, the company announced it had broken 900 million weekly active users, with more than 50 million consumer subscribers. Anthropic doesn't disclose its total users, but some analyses put its consumers at anywhere from 18 or 30 million, while a spokesperson told TechCrunch that paid subscription have more than doubled this year. At the high end, that's 30 millions users against 900 million.
But Anthropic appears to be making more money than OpenAI. The former announced on Monday that its run-rate revenue had exceeded $30 billion, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025. OpenAI says it is generating $2 billion per month, which would put it at roughly $24 billion for the year—at this point, anyway. Anecdotally, I have seen a lot of coders talk about using Claude Code, and far fewer discussing using ChatGPT Codex. While there are many AI companies out there, the fact that OpenAI called out Anthropic directly in this price cut shows they view them as a direct rival. It will be interesting to see how other things change as the race continues to heat up. Will OpenAI make more cuts, like it did when it killed Sora and dropped its AI video models? Only time will tell.
Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed on Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
via Lifehacker (author: Jake Peterson)
While ChatGPT may have kicked off the generative AI era we now live in, it is far from alone these days. There is steep competition from multiple companies in this space, including Google, Anthropic, and even Microsoft—which has a huge financial stake in OpenAI. To compete, it seems OpenAI is trying to make its paid subscription plans more attractive to users, as the company just cut the price of ChatGPT Pro in half.
ChatGPT Pro now starts at $100
As reported by TechCrunch, OpenAI's new pricing model now offers a Pro plan at $100 per month, down from $200 per month. That now gives users a choice between the following: a free plan, which comes with ads; a Go plan offering more usage limits for $8 per month (still with ads); a Plus plan with extra models and exclusive features for $20 per month; and, now, the Pro plan, with the most usage limits across all of the company's models and features, for $100 per month. OpenAI doesn't list a $200 plan anymore, but it confirmed to TechCrunch that option is still available.
If you use ChatGPT to answer your everyday questions, you might balk at the idea of spending $100 a month on the chatbot, let alone $200. But Pro plans aren't targeted at the everyday user; instead, the idea is for coders who rely on AI to help with programs to subscribe. In this case, that's through Codex, OpenAI's coding tool. OpenAI told TechCrunch that its Pro plan now offers five times more Codex access than the Plus plan, which might appeal to power users. (The hidden $200 plan offers limits that are 20 times higher than Plus, or four times higher than the $100 Pro plan.)
Power users are who OpenAI is going after, too—especially those who may be tempted by Anthropic's Claude Code tool, which also offers a $100-per-month plan. This isn't speculation, either: An OpenAI spokesperson directly acknowledged how they believe Codex offers more for the money than Claude Code: “The new $100 Pro Tier is designed to give developers more practical coding capacity for the money, especially during high-intensity work sessions where limits matter most. Compared with Claude Code, Codex delivers more coding capacity per dollar across paid tiers, with the difference showing up most clearly during active coding use."
The AI race continues to heat up
OpenAI still has the majority of the generative AI user base. Back in February, the company announced it had broken 900 million weekly active users, with more than 50 million consumer subscribers. Anthropic doesn't disclose its total users, but some analyses put its consumers at anywhere from 18 or 30 million, while a spokesperson told TechCrunch that paid subscription have more than doubled this year. At the high end, that's 30 millions users against 900 million.
But Anthropic appears to be making more money than OpenAI. The former announced on Monday that its run-rate revenue had exceeded $30 billion, up from $9 billion at the end of 2025. OpenAI says it is generating $2 billion per month, which would put it at roughly $24 billion for the year—at this point, anyway. Anecdotally, I have seen a lot of coders talk about using Claude Code, and far fewer discussing using ChatGPT Codex. While there are many AI companies out there, the fact that OpenAI called out Anthropic directly in this price cut shows they view them as a direct rival. It will be interesting to see how other things change as the race continues to heat up. Will OpenAI make more cuts, like it did when it killed Sora and dropped its AI video models? Only time will tell.
Disclosure: Lifehacker’s parent company, Ziff Davis, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging it infringed on Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.
via Lifehacker (author: Jake Peterson)
Roblox 'Plus' Is Here, but It's Only for the Hardcore Spenders
Like many parents, I know well the pain of my Roblox-addicted child asking me to trade my real money for fake money he can use to buy pretend items in a digital video game. So when Roblox announced the April 30 launch of Roblox Plus, a monthly subscription service with perks that could net us a 20% discount on all the digital items, my interest was piqued.
But is Roblox Plus actually worth it? Let's do some math.
What do you get with Roblox Plus?
As noted in today's announcement on the Roblox website, once it launches at the end of this month, the primary benefit of Roblox Plus will be a discount on items purchased with Robux, the platform's in-game currency. Your monthly subscription won't actually come with any Robux (yet, anyway—more on that in a bit), but it does come with the promise that you'll spend less real cash on Robux going forward.
Immediately upon enrolling, Roblox Plus members will receive an immediate 10% Robux discount on all in-game purchases. Once you've been a member for three consecutive months, that discount will increase to 20%.
You'll also get some other, less tangible benefits:
● Free private servers. No longer will you need mingle with the Roblox rabble: a membership will net you a free private server for every game. (My son informs me that most games have free private servers already, so the benefit here is questionable.)
● Transfer Robux without paying a fee. Apparently right now you have to pay a transaction fee if you want to give Robux in your account to another player. Roblux Plus will eliminate that fee. (Robux says there are safeguards in place requiring parental approval for child accounts to send Robux or receive Robux from others.)
● Trade or resell avatar items. Avatar upgrades are usually one-time purchases, but Roblox Plus members will be able to trade or resell them (probably at a steep loss, I'm guessing).
● Publish and sell avatar items. Roblox Plus members will also be able to design and sell their own avatar items on Roblox Marketplace, potentially earning commissions up to 70%. (This was possible before, so I assume the benefit is bypassing the typical 300 Robux upload fee.)
● A "distinct profile badge." Oh big wow.
How much does Roblox Plus cost?
Roblox Plus will cost you $4.99 per month, the same price as the entry-level tier of Roblox Premium, which nets you 450 Robux per month. a 10% bonus when you buy additional Robux, and some other perks like item trading. A basic Roblox Plus membership doesn't include any Robux.
However, the announcement indicates that in the future, Roblox will launch Roblox Plus bundles that will roll in Robux as well—in tiers of 500, 1,000, or 2,000—but pricing for those has yet to be announced. It's "convenient way to pay once for both Roblox Plus and monthly Robux," the platform says. Very exciting!
Is Roblox Plus worth it?
While Roblox Plus could add new benefits in the future, as it stands, the easiest way to judge whether it's worth it is to do some basic math: In order to recoup the $5 a month membership cost, you'll need to regularly spend at least $25 worth of Robux per month on in-game purchases just to break even—and that's after you've already been a member for three months, doubling your discount from 10% to 20%. (Those first two months, you'll need to spend $50 worth of Robux if you want to net to zero.)
Of course, the math gets much more complicated if you pair a Roblox Premium membership (which gets you a 10% bonus when you buy Robux) and a Roblox Plus membership, but that equation will probably become moot with the launch of the aforementioned Roblox Plus bundles.
Personally, I won't be signing my kid up anytime soon. He doesn't care about free servers or trading avatar items, and thankfully we aren't spending anywhere near $25 per month on Robux. Most months, anyway.
via Lifehacker (author: Joel Cunningham)
Like many parents, I know well the pain of my Roblox-addicted child asking me to trade my real money for fake money he can use to buy pretend items in a digital video game. So when Roblox announced the April 30 launch of Roblox Plus, a monthly subscription service with perks that could net us a 20% discount on all the digital items, my interest was piqued.
But is Roblox Plus actually worth it? Let's do some math.
What do you get with Roblox Plus?
As noted in today's announcement on the Roblox website, once it launches at the end of this month, the primary benefit of Roblox Plus will be a discount on items purchased with Robux, the platform's in-game currency. Your monthly subscription won't actually come with any Robux (yet, anyway—more on that in a bit), but it does come with the promise that you'll spend less real cash on Robux going forward.
Immediately upon enrolling, Roblox Plus members will receive an immediate 10% Robux discount on all in-game purchases. Once you've been a member for three consecutive months, that discount will increase to 20%.
You'll also get some other, less tangible benefits:
● Free private servers. No longer will you need mingle with the Roblox rabble: a membership will net you a free private server for every game. (My son informs me that most games have free private servers already, so the benefit here is questionable.)
● Transfer Robux without paying a fee. Apparently right now you have to pay a transaction fee if you want to give Robux in your account to another player. Roblux Plus will eliminate that fee. (Robux says there are safeguards in place requiring parental approval for child accounts to send Robux or receive Robux from others.)
● Trade or resell avatar items. Avatar upgrades are usually one-time purchases, but Roblox Plus members will be able to trade or resell them (probably at a steep loss, I'm guessing).
● Publish and sell avatar items. Roblox Plus members will also be able to design and sell their own avatar items on Roblox Marketplace, potentially earning commissions up to 70%. (This was possible before, so I assume the benefit is bypassing the typical 300 Robux upload fee.)
● A "distinct profile badge." Oh big wow.
How much does Roblox Plus cost?
Roblox Plus will cost you $4.99 per month, the same price as the entry-level tier of Roblox Premium, which nets you 450 Robux per month. a 10% bonus when you buy additional Robux, and some other perks like item trading. A basic Roblox Plus membership doesn't include any Robux.
However, the announcement indicates that in the future, Roblox will launch Roblox Plus bundles that will roll in Robux as well—in tiers of 500, 1,000, or 2,000—but pricing for those has yet to be announced. It's "convenient way to pay once for both Roblox Plus and monthly Robux," the platform says. Very exciting!
Is Roblox Plus worth it?
While Roblox Plus could add new benefits in the future, as it stands, the easiest way to judge whether it's worth it is to do some basic math: In order to recoup the $5 a month membership cost, you'll need to regularly spend at least $25 worth of Robux per month on in-game purchases just to break even—and that's after you've already been a member for three months, doubling your discount from 10% to 20%. (Those first two months, you'll need to spend $50 worth of Robux if you want to net to zero.)
Of course, the math gets much more complicated if you pair a Roblox Premium membership (which gets you a 10% bonus when you buy Robux) and a Roblox Plus membership, but that equation will probably become moot with the launch of the aforementioned Roblox Plus bundles.
Personally, I won't be signing my kid up anytime soon. He doesn't care about free servers or trading avatar items, and thankfully we aren't spending anywhere near $25 per month on Robux. Most months, anyway.
via Lifehacker (author: Joel Cunningham)
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via 豆瓣最受欢迎的乐评 (author: 豆友17Q67r-4r4)
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