OpenAI Considers Major Price Reductions to Outpace Competitor Anthropic
The AI industry may be on the brink of a full-scale pricing war. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, is reportedly contemplating substantial reductions in the prices it charges for AI tokens — the primary unit used to bill developers and businesses for AI usage. This move is in anticipation of similar strategies from competitor Anthropic, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
These discussions are taking place amidst escalating competitive pressure. Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI assistant, concluded its Series H funding round in late May 2026 with a valuation of $965 billion. This briefly surpassed OpenAI, which was last valued at $852 billion in March. The coding tool from Anthropic, Claude Code, has experienced rapid growth among software engineers, contributing to its momentum. OpenAI currently offers tiered subscriptions at $8, $20, and $100+ per month, while Anthropic charges $17/month for Claude Pro.
The timing is crucial: both companies are gearing up for IPOs, and the idea of reducing prices while already spending billions raises serious concerns about financial sustainability. OpenAI is projected to achieve profitability only by 2030, and its cash burn rate is estimated to be 14 times that of Anthropic. Combined, both companies are expected to spend nearly $65 billion in 2026 on computing and operations. As of now, no final decisions have been made, but the market is observing closely.
Source: CNBC – OpenAI mulls slashing prices ahead of competition from Anthropic