ChatGPT Pro doubles Codex use and adds API credits

OpenAI has made two changes to what its top ChatGPT plans include, a day apart. On October 29 it doubled the Work and Codex usage in the Pro 100 and Pro 500 plans and cancelled a planned cut to Pro 200, according to its release notes [1]. On October 28 it began letting eligible Pro and Business subscribers claim free API credits every month, up to $500 [1][2][3].

What was announced

More Work and Codex usage. OpenAI says it is increasing the Work and Codex usage included in Pro and Business Premium plans [1]. Pro 100 and Pro 500 now include twice their previous Work and Codex allowance [1]. The company has also cancelled the Pro 200 reduction it announced in a September 29 email [1]. If a Pro 200 subscriber already had the higher allowance, they keep it; starting October 29, Pro 200 subscribers on the lower allowance get twice their previous Work and Codex allowance, which brings them up to the same limit [1]. The release notes describe the change in multiples, not in absolute numbers, so the size of the allowance itself is not public in this source [1].

API credits as a plan benefit. Eligible ChatGPT Pro and Business subscribers can now claim free API credits to build apps and agents with the OpenAI API [2]. The grant funds one linked API organization, and it sits apart from ChatGPT usage: it does not increase the ChatGPT or signed-in Codex allowance, the personal usage-credit balance or a Business workspace’s credit balance [2]. ChatGPT and API billing stay separate [2].

The amounts follow the plan [2][3]. Pro at the $100 tier gets $100 per monthly billing period, the $200 tier gets $200 and the $500 tier gets $500 [2]. Business workspaces get $20 per paid Standard seat and $100 per paid Premium seat, pooled for the whole workspace and capped at $500 per monthly billing period [2]. OpenAI gives its own example: five Standard seats and three Premium seats add up to $400, while ten Standard seats and four Premium seats would come to $600 before the cap, so that workspace gets $500 [2]. Business workspaces billed annually upfront receive the full year’s grant at once, capped at $6,000 per annual cycle [2].

Eligibility is narrow. The included plans are Pro 100, Pro 200, Pro 500 and eligible Business workspaces with paid Standard or Premium seats [2]. Plus and free trials do not qualify, and Enterprise, Edu and legacy Codex seats are not eligible plans for this offer [2]. The paid subscription must have been active for at least seven days before you claim [2]. The person claiming has to own both sides: for Pro, the subscription owner who is also an owner of the receiving API organization; for Business, someone who owns both the ChatGPT workspace and the API organization [2]. An admin role alone is not enough, and the same email address has to be used on both accounts [2].

What changed, and for whom

The usage change needs no action. If you are on Pro 100, Pro 500 or Business Premium, the extra Work and Codex usage arrives on its own [1]. If you are on Pro 200 and had been warned about a cut, the cut is off [1]. Because OpenAI states the change as “twice the previous allowance” and not as a number of tasks or hours, the only way to see what it means for you is to watch your own usage over the next billing cycle [1].

The API credits do need action, and they come with rules that are easy to miss. The first grant is prorated for the time left in your current billing cycle [3]. After you activate the benefit once, new credits arrive automatically when the subscription renews, as long as the benefit is still offered and your plan is still eligible [3]. Unused credits expire at the end of the billing cycle and do not roll over [2][3]. OpenAI says the benefit may change or be removed in the future [2].

The credits cover paid API Platform usage billed to the linked organization: the Responses, Agents and Decisions APIs, GPT-Live and the Realtime API, the Images API, and built-in tools such as web search, file search and Code Interpreter with their usage and storage charges [3]. They do not cover Codex usage through API keys, and they do not raise ChatGPT or signed-in Codex limits [3]. You do not need to add an API payment method to use an active grant [3]. Free credits are spent before purchased credits; if purchased credits remain, requests continue on those, and if nothing remains, requests fail with HTTP 429 and the error code credit_balance_exhausted [3]. A credit balance also does not lift request-rate, token-rate, model, organization or project limits [2].

Plan changes move the link. Downgrading to Plus, Go or Free removes the API organization link at the end of the billing cycle, and moving a Business subscription to Enterprise does the same [2][3]. Moving from Pro to Business ends the Pro link; a Business owner can create a new link once the workspace’s paid subscription has been active for seven days [3]. Cancelling does not take back credits already issued; they stay usable until the cycle ends [2]. An approved full refund removes the unused promotional credits tied to that charge [2].

OpenAI is not the first to do this. Simon Willison notes that Anthropic announced a similar benefit for its Max and Team subscriptions earlier in October, and that he may ship public-facing demos now that the credits are covered by subscriptions he already pays for [4].

Who it is for — and not

This is for people and small teams who already pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business and have some reason to call the OpenAI API: a script that summarises documents, an internal agent, a prototype for a client. For them the credits turn part of an existing subscription into a development budget that renews each month while the benefit lasts [3].

It is not for Plus subscribers, who are excluded, or for Enterprise and Edu customers, whose plans are not eligible [2]. It is not a way to stretch Codex further: the credits do not apply to Codex through API keys, and they do not raise the Codex allowance in ChatGPT [3]. The doubled Work and Codex usage does that part, and only on the plans named in the release notes [1]. It is also not a reason to upgrade from Plus on its own. The smallest eligible Pro tier costs $100 a month and returns $100 in credits that expire, so the upgrade makes sense only if you would use both the higher ChatGPT allowance and the API [2].

There is a lock-in angle worth naming. Credits that refill each month make it cheaper to build on the OpenAI API than on a rival’s, and a team that builds there will find it harder to move later. That is an ordinary commercial choice, not a hidden catch, but it is a reason to keep your prompts and integration code portable.

This page will be updated if OpenAI publishes the Work and Codex allowances as numbers, changes the credit amounts or eligible plans, or ends the benefit.

∴ If you pay for ChatGPT Pro or Business, link an API organization now; the monthly credits expire unused.