Tier gating: losing a model without a retirement
Tier gating names models per plan tier, so what a project can reach follows from the subscription. It makes the mapping readable before paying, and it creates a second way to lose a model: the tier moves, the model continues to exist, and no lifecycle page is involved. As of 2026-09-22.
| A retirement | A tier change |
|---|---|
| Decided by | The maker |
| Announced in | A lifecycle notice, sometimes |
| The model afterwards | Gone |
| Appears on a calendar | Sometimes |
Inclusion rule. Read from the published plan comparison of the one entry in this register that names partner models against tiers. Order. Paired, with the retirement column first.
1Publishing the mapping is what makes it legible
Naming which model sits in which plan is more detail than most entries give, and it is the reason this mechanism can be described at all. A reader can see exactly which subscription reaches which engine before paying anything.
It is a snapshot of a commercial arrangement rather than a commitment. Nothing says a model stays in the tier it is named in, and the mapping is the element most likely to move.
2The effect is identical and the paperwork is not
From a production's side, losing an engine because the tier moved and losing it because it was retired are the same event. A retirement tends to produce a dated notice somewhere; a restructure produces a new pricing page.
No retirement tracker watches pricing pages, including this one. The register records the mapping and the date it was read, which is the only handle available.
3A gate is also a kind of stability
Because the reachable set is fixed at purchase, it does not drift between sessions. That is more durable than an unstated default setting, which most entries in this register have instead.
The gate read against a single-line menu sets out what each arrangement fixes and who can move it.
A definition rather than a dated entry: no line above is a vendor statement. Where this word turns up in a real notice, the wording and the date are on the reading on that mechanism. Nearby terms: Default engine, Announced date, Blank cell.