OpenAI ends its $1-a-year government pilot, moves federal agencies to 50%-off usage pricing
The new 27-month GSA OneGov agreement drops the flat $1/year ChatGPT deal in favor of consumption-based pricing at half the standard $15/user/month rate -- and expands eligibility from roughly 1 million to 23 million people.
The General Services Administration and OpenAI announced a new OneGov agreement on September 10, 2026, replacing the prior $1-per-year flat-fee pilot with consumption-based, token-metered pricing at 50% off the standard $15-per-user-per-month rate -- no platform-access fee, no minimum order, no spend commitment. The 27-month agreement runs October 1, 2026 through the end of 2028, and expands ChatGPT eligibility across government from roughly 1 million current users to approximately 23 million people.
Why moving off a flat rate is the actual news
GSA's Laura Stanton framed the shift plainly: consumption-based access is "the next logical step" as agencies integrate AI further into regular operations. A flat $1/year deal was a land-grab price, not a sustainable one -- moving to metered usage, even at a steep 50% discount, is OpenAI transitioning its largest single institutional customer toward pricing that scales with actual use rather than a symbolic headline number.
The discount as a public benchmark
A 50%-off rate, publicly disclosed for the largest buyer in the US economy, is a useful reference point for any enterprise procurement team negotiating its own AI contract -- not because a company should expect the same discount, but because it establishes a visible floor for what an AI vendor is willing to concede to lock in large-scale, long-term usage.