Leaks began circulating Thursday, September 24, when TestingCatalog found references to a new "Pro Max" tier buried in OpenAI's backend. Independent researcher Tibor Blaho spotted the same strings, and the AI leaks account Chetaslua posted screenshots of the tier inside ChatGPT's own subscription interface. OpenAI has not confirmed any of it.

The headline feature is "Fastest Work and Codex" — raw speed for OpenAI's long-running agent products, Work and Codex, rather than more usage. The tier also advertises maximum memory, 100GB of file storage, early feature access, and priority availability.

The rumor gained weight this weekend when paying users noticed ChatGPT's paid page had been quietly redesigned: the existing $100 and $200 tiers were renamed "Pro Standard" and "Pro More," and the old "5x/20x the usage of Plus" claims were replaced with a vague "more usage than Plus" — suggesting a tier reshuffle ahead of Tuesday's DevDay. Still no official word from OpenAI.

Resolved September 29: confirmed. OpenAI launched the $500 Pro 500 plan at DevDay with its highest usage allowance — 25x the ChatGPT Plus allowance — plus Ultrafast access. This is the tier the leaks described (early code strings even called it 'Pro Max').

Update (2026-10-08): Confirmed at DevDay 2026 (Oct 6) as the $500/month Pro 500 plan — 25x the Plus usage allowance and the only plan with Astra Ultrafast in Codex. The leaked "Pro Max" name was wrong; the leaked price and the "sells speed" positioning were right.