OpenAI recently revealed that its pricing strategy for ChatGPT Pro is causing significant financial losses. At $200 per month, ChatGPT Pro—OpenAI’s most advanced AI offering—is priced ten times higher than ChatGPT Plus. Despite this bold pricing move, the company underestimated user demand and usage intensity. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman admitted, “I personally chose the price and thought we would make some money.”
The challenge lies in how AI costs scale with usage. A fixed monthly subscription simplifies pricing but introduces risk. More powerful capabilities drive higher usage, creating more value for users but also significantly increasing computational costs. This dynamic means OpenAI is delivering extra value without receiving proportional revenue in return.
This issue is not unique to OpenAI; many companies face similar challenges when launching new features or products. The typical process often looks like this:
Validate that customers want Feature Y.
Product and engineering teams build and deploy Feature Y.
Sales and marketing teams promote Feature Y.
In some cases, companies skip steps entirely, launching features with the expectation that they will “sell themselves.” This approach is particularly tempting in tech, where the belief is that continued innovation will eventually drive revenue growth. However, a critical step is often overlooked: determining what to charge in return.
Any serious business must be intentional about monetization before releasing a new feature or product by asking the following key questions:
Should we charge extra?
How does packaging change if we do?
How does it impact pricing?
Many companies neglect these questions, especially in their early stages, when the focus is simply on generating any form of revenue to stay afloat—a phenomenon we might call “necessity pricing.” In such cases, pricing decisions are often based on competitor benchmarks or early customer feedback rather than careful analysis of value.
Over time, these initial pricing decisions can become “sticky,” turning into legacy practices that fail to reflect the true value being delivered. Instead, businesses should regularly reassess their pricing and packaging strategies to align with the value they offer. If you’re turning silver into gold, you should sell it at gold prices—not silver prices.
Want to learn more about SaaS pricing and packaging? Follow Pricing Matters or schedule a free consult at https://revfixr.com/contact
Dr. Anouar El Haji is Founder and CEO at RevFixr. He is known for introducing a Nobel Prize-winning methodology to the world of market research with Veylinx. Anouar holds a PhD degree in Marketing specializing in pricing and behavioral economics and further has two master's degrees all from the University of Amsterdam. His articles have been published in scientific journals and various media.
