Anthropic ends contracted discounts as OpenAI extends enterprise renewal time

Anthropic discounts end at contracted token limits

Anthropic ends discounts for enterprise customers once they use the tokens covered by their contracts, The Information reported. Managers who buy from Anthropic and OpenAI said customers must then renegotiate or pay standard rates. Tokens are the units AI companies use to bill for text processed by their models. The managers estimated Anthropic's discounts at about 15% off list price. TNW said it had not independently verified the report.

OpenAI provides an additional contract window

A software licensing adviser who knows both companies told The Information that OpenAI takes a more flexible approach. It gives customers the rest of the current month plus one more month to agree to a new contract, after which list prices apply. Frederick Philipson, co-founder of Redress Compliance, said OpenAI has become more aggressive than Anthropic on discounts as it focuses on enterprise sales. OpenAI hired its first worldwide sales chief this month.

Cloud providers and large customer deals

Cloud providers use another model. Amazon, Microsoft and Google usually let customers retain their discount on usage above their commitment for the rest of the contract, NPIFinancial chief innovation officer Jeff Muscarella said. CodeRabbit chief executive Harjot Gill said OpenAI is now his company's main AI supplier, replacing Anthropic as the leading provider six months ago. Gill said the three-year-old company spends tens of millions of dollars a year on AI. He and another manager said Anthropic and OpenAI have started adding clauses that require large customers to direct most of their AI budgets to one platform.

Enterprise spending and list-price competition

More than 100 companies spent over $10 million a year with Anthropic in the 12 months to June, while more than 1,000 spent over $1 million, according to the report. Meta and Cursor were identified as major Anthropic customers. The report also said Anthropic's revenue passed OpenAI's for the first time last quarter. Both companies have reduced list prices in recent weeks, with Anthropic introducing a cheaper Opus model and OpenAI halving GPT-6 prices.

Sources: thenextweb.com