Will OpenAI Or Anthropic’s AI Pricing Work For You? Check The Details

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OpenAI and Anthropic have cut prices on several AI models since June, and a report published October 24 says OpenAI is also offering customer-specific discounts to win business from Anthropic. The changes could lower bills for companies using AI, but the reported savings vary by customer and do not represent a general discount available to everyone.

Pricing pages and vendor announcements reviewed by ThorstenMeyerAI.com show OpenAI’s GPT-6.1 Sol priced at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens in September, down from $5 and $30 for its Sol model in June. Its smaller Luna model moved from $1 and $6 per million input and output tokens to $0.10 and $0.50. Anthropic’s Opus model went from $5 and $25 per million tokens for Opus 5 to $4 and $20 for Opus 5.5. These are prices for different model versions, not simply reductions to an unchanged product.

Additional savings can depend on how a model is used. Anthropic reduced cache-read pricing for Fable 5.1, and says that change can make costs about 25% lower on typical workloads and up to around 45% lower on highly agentic workloads. Those estimates are the company’s claims. The source report says cached tokens can account for a large share of coding-agent spending, because agents may repeatedly process earlier conversation context.

The customer deals described in reporting are separate from public list prices. The Information reported that OpenAI offered Replit a discount of more than 30% on a contract worth over $100 million a year. DataCamp CEO Jonathan Cornelissen said he expected OpenAI pricing to reduce the company’s costs by 80% to 90%, but that figure refers to anticipated total savings against its existing setup—not a 90% cut to OpenAI’s published rates. A U.S. bank was also reportedly offered seats for less than $7 each, though the available account does not provide full contract terms.

How AI Buyers Can Compare Costs

The price changes matter because token rates are only one part of an AI bill. Companies also need to account for how much they use a model, the mix of input and output tokens, cached context, contract discounts, and any minimum number of seats. A lower rate on a newer model does not automatically mean a lower bill if the model uses more tokens or performs differently on a company’s tasks.

Plan limits can alter the value of a subscription, too. The source report says Anthropic added capped, expiring API credits to its Max and Team plans, while its Enterprise plan requires 20 seats. OpenAI, meanwhile, reduced the usage included with new $200 Pro subscriptions without changing the monthly price. These terms can affect smaller organizations and individual users even when the advertised subscription fee stays the same.

For buyers, the reported competition may create an opportunity to negotiate, but the deal must be judged against actual usage and contract terms. Testing work across more than one provider can help establish whether a cheaper model meets quality needs. The available figures are historical prices and reported offers, not a guarantee of future rates or savings.

Price Cuts Since June

The sequence began with OpenAI model pricing in June and continued through the summer. Anthropic launched Sonnet 5 at introductory prices of $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, then made those rates permanent, according to the source material. OpenAI cut Luna pricing in July and temporarily reduced Sol pricing in August before September launches brought further changes.

In September, OpenAI listed GPT-6 Sol at $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, with Luna at $0.10 and $0.50. Anthropic listed Opus 5.5 at $4 and $20. OpenAI also cut GPT-6.1 Sol’s cache price to $0.10 per million tokens, according to the pricing review. Data scientist Max Woolf tracked the sequence in an October 25 post; ThorstenMeyerAI.com says it checked the figures against vendor announcements and pricing pages retrieved October 26.

Customer use has shifted alongside pricing. Rippling CEO Parker Conrad said the OpenAI share of his company’s coding work rose from 16% in May to 52%, while Anthropic’s share fell from 57% to 18%. Conrad cited cost as a reason. Replit CEO Amjad Masad said the company had stopped working with Anthropic and described ChatGPT as better, but later told TechCrunch that Replit remained model-agnostic and OpenAI was its preferred partner. A person familiar with the partnership told TechCrunch it remained in place.

Contract Terms and Real-World Savings

Full details of the reported customer contracts are not public in the material provided. The Information’s October 24 article is paywalled, and the 80% to 90% DataCamp estimate is an expected reduction in total costs rather than a verified, final bill comparison. The reported bank offer and Replit discount likewise do not establish that similar terms are available to other customers.

It is also unclear how pricing, usage limits and model quality will develop after the reported changes. Many headline comparisons involve successor models, so price alone cannot establish whether a new model is an equivalent replacement for a particular job. Vendor estimates of workload savings are not independent results and may not match a customer’s usage pattern.

What Buyers Should Check Next

Organizations considering a renewal or new AI contract can compare their actual token use and seat needs with each provider’s current pricing and plan rules. That means checking input and output rates, cache charges, usage caps, credit expiration, minimum seats and the terms attached to any negotiated discount—not just the advertised monthly price.

Teams can also run representative tasks across providers before switching, then track quality and total costs over the same period. Further vendor pricing or contract changes remain possible, but the source material does not identify a scheduled next price announcement. Buyers should verify current terms directly with vendors before making purchasing decisions.

Key Questions

Did OpenAI cut its prices by 90%?

No general 90% list-price cut is established by the source material. DataCamp’s CEO described an expected 80% to 90% reduction in the company’s total costs under OpenAI pricing compared with its existing setup.

Which OpenAI prices changed?

The source review says Sol pricing moved from $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens in June to $2 and $10 for GPT-6.1 Sol in September. Luna moved from $1 and $6 to $0.10 and $0.50. These comparisons involve newer model versions.

How did Anthropic change its pricing?

The source material lists Opus 5 at $5 per million input tokens and $25 per million output tokens, compared with $4 and $20 for Opus 5.5. Anthropic also changed cache-read pricing and says this can lower costs on some workloads.

Why might a lower token price not lower my bill?

Total cost depends on usage volume, input and output token mix, cache use, subscription limits, seat minimums and contract terms. A newer model’s performance on your specific work also needs to be tested.

Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com