5 ms·
It's very easy to blow through hundreds of dollars a session using API tokens especially with the 1m context if you aren't careful about clearing old context.
by woah 6mo ago
It's very easy to blow through hundreds of dollars a session using API tokens especially with the 1m context if you aren't careful about clearing old context.
At the same time the subscription will allow the same usage for hundreds of dollars a month.
Either Anthropic is absolutely hosing API users, massively subsidizing subscriptions, or a little bit of both.
- internetter 6mo agohttps://www.forbes.com/sites/annatong/2026/03/05/cursor-goes-to-war-for-ai-coding-dominance/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/annatong/2026/03/05/cursor-goes... "Cursor estimated last year that a $200-per-month Claude Code subscription could use up to $2,000 in compute, suggesting significant subsidization by Anthropic. Today, that subsidization appears to be even more aggressive, with that $200 plan able to consume about $5,000 in compute"
- jackp96 6mo agoReally curious how many people actually get close to that level of usage? Their general business plan only offers the $100 version, with pay-as-you-go above that. If 95% of people are using $100 of value a month, the whales may not be hurting them that badly.
- bakies 6mo agoI wrote my own "harness" and it exposes the api dollar cost since those come back in the responses even while using my sub. The conversations are typically $40-$60 and the longs ones with multiple compactions get to $100+ I say "Harness" because it's just a web interface that uses `cluade -p` so I can run it in containers and remotely access it.
- beering 6mo agoThat’s based on Anthropic’s retail price right? Not a fair comparison, like saying that Netflix must be losing money because every movie rental is $4 and a Netflix subscriber can watch 20 movies in a month.
- ageitgey 6mo agoAnthropic has a very "interesting" business model where you get subscription pricing as long as you are under 150 employees. When you hit 151, you have to start paying API prices overnight for everyone, and your total bill instantly multiplies. They are getting you hooked on cheaper tokens, then raking you in when you get scale. I'm sure Uber gets a break on list price, but I doubt they are anywhere near <150 employee subscription pricing.
- rogerrogerr 6mo agoStrange pricing model for a company selling the idea of having fewer employees.
- ambicapter 6mo agoDon't the incentives align? If you have fewer employees, then you pay less...
- rogerrogerr 6mo agoFor customers, but not for Anthropic. If they truly expect their tools can turn a 160 person company into a 60 person company, this is not how they’d price.
- jcgrillo 6mo agoYeah, it's basically the opposite of how "product-led growth" SaaS works. Generally pay-as-you-go pricing is expensive at scale, but attractive initially. So you start on a pay-as-you-go plan, but as you scale you end up transitioning off pay-as-you-go to a negotiated commit. I.e. you call sales and sign a contract. Anthropic basically flips that around backwards.
- linkregister 6mo agoIs that known to be true? Enterprise pricing is opaque. I am aware of at least one 151+ organization using a flat-cost $150-200/mo per seat Claude Premium contract. Reportedly most employees don't need to top up with additional API usage to cope with token limits.
- brightball 6mo agoI evaluated the pricing and could not justify the jump to Enterprise from Team. You lose the monthly subscription entirely when you jump to enterprise so you lose your ability to control costs. You can cap per user, but not having the rolling cap are you really just going to tell a member of your team “No AI for the rest of the month” It’s a risky deal as it sets up now IMO.