OpenAI Discounts Are Pulling Customers From Anthropic

 

By Sidra Salman · October 26, 2026

OpenAI is not just competing with Anthropic on model quality anymore. According to a new report from The Information, published October 25, 2026, OpenAI is competing on price — and winning some of Anthropic's biggest customers in the process.

The report, summarized by several outlets over the weekend, names three companies that have shifted meaningful AI spending from Anthropic to OpenAI after steep discounts: Replit, Rippling, and DataCamp. A fourth example, an unnamed U.S. bank with more than $7 billion in assets, reportedly doubled its ChatGPT seats to 500 employees at no extra charge, paying under $7 per user instead of the standard $20 or more.

Neither OpenAI nor Anthropic has publicly confirmed the deals described in the report, and The Information's original article sits behind a paywall. What follows is what the reporting says, what is still unconfirmed, and why it matters even if you never buy an enterprise AI contract.

What The Information reportedly found

The clearest numbers in the report concern Rippling, the HR software company. According to Rippling CEO Parker Conrad, OpenAI's share of the company's coding workload rose from 16 percent to 52 percent, while Anthropic's share fell from 57 percent to 18 percent. That is not a gentle drift. That is a flip, and it happened in months.

Replit's move is the biggest in dollar terms. The coding platform reportedly moved most of its AI spending to OpenAI after OpenAI offered more than 30 percent off a contract worth over $100 million a year. Replit CEO Amjad Masad had already hinted at the shift earlier this month at TechCrunch Disrupt, saying the decision came down to cost, partnership considerations, and model performance. He later clarified that Replit remains model agnostic: OpenAI is now the default, but users can still choose Claude.

DataCamp's story is the most dramatic on price. CEO Jonathan Cornelissen said OpenAI's pricing cut his company's costs by 80 to 90 percent. That is one customer's reported cost reduction, not a published OpenAI price list: negotiated enterprise deals bundle seats, usage, and support in ways that rarely match a headline percentage.

The report also cites an investor memo saying Anthropic's growth slowed from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2026. That timing is awkward for Anthropic, which is reported to be preparing to go public after filing its S-1 in October and reporting its first profitable month in August.

Why OpenAI can afford to cut prices

Discounting at this scale usually means a company is buying market share it hopes to keep, or its costs have genuinely fallen. The reporting suggests both are true here. OpenAI's newer Sol and Luna model lines are described as more efficient, which lowers what it costs OpenAI to serve each request — so it can pass some of that saving on and still make money.

On the strategy side, enterprise AI customers are sticky once they build workflows around a provider. If a $100 million account moves and then builds its internal tools on OpenAI's models, switching back later takes real work. A 30 percent discount today can be worth far more than 30 percent of one year's contract if the customer stays for five years. That enterprise push has been building for weeks: OpenAI's Pentagon deal put its tools on classified military networks, with guardrails both labs are now being judged against.

There is a third force pushing prices down: cheaper competition from China. The same reporting points to DeepSeek and Kimi as price pressure from below. When a capable low-cost model sits a few points behind the frontier at a fraction of the price, every closed vendor's discount becomes a negotiation starting point, not a favor.

What is still unconfirmed — and why it matters

It is worth being blunt about the limits of this story. The figures come from customer executives quoted in a single outlet's reporting. They are not confirmed by either lab, and the paywalled original could not be independently checked in this article's research. The bank is unnamed. The investor memo is not public.

The Replit angle also counsels caution. When Masad first spoke about the change at TechCrunch Disrupt, sources close to Anthropic disputed that the partnership had ended, and reporting at the time described the collaboration as still active in some form. The new report adds a price explanation for a shift already underway; treat the partnership as changed, not necessarily over.

None of that makes the story unimportant. It makes it a story to watch with the right label on it: reported, not confirmed, and consistent with several other signals pointing the same way.

What this means for regular AI users

You may never negotiate a $100 million AI contract. Here is why this price war still reaches you. Earlier this month, Yelp, Delta, and other companies started closing their doors to outside AI agents — access is getting more contested even as the models themselves get cheaper.

First, enterprise discounts tend to leak downward. When the biggest buyers pay less, vendors reshape their whole pricing ladder, and smaller plans and API prices usually follow. If you pay for AI tools, this is a good moment to ask your vendor what has changed — or to compare a rival before you renew.

Second, price is becoming a real reason to switch, not just a tiebreaker. The Rippling numbers suggest that for coding work at least, the models are now close enough that procurement decides. That is good news for buyers and bad news for any vendor counting on lock-in.

Third, watch what happens to quality. A vendor that discounts aggressively can afford it while its costs keep falling. If costs stop falling and the discounts continue, something else gives: support, features, or the next model's budget.

The bottom line

OpenAI's reported discount campaign is a sign that the AI wars have entered a new phase. The first phase was about who could build the smartest model. The second was about who could put it in front of the most users. This phase is about who can hold the customers they already have when a rival offers the same work for much less.

Anthropic's answer will matter as much as OpenAI's offer. If Anthropic matches prices, margins across the industry fall and users win. If it holds its prices and loses more logos, its listing story gets harder to tell.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did OpenAI really cut prices by 90 percent?

Not as a published price cut. The 80 to 90 percent figure is DataCamp CEO Jonathan Cornelissen's reported description of his company's cost reduction under a negotiated deal. Replit's reported discount was more than 30 percent off a contract worth over $100 million a year.

Has Anthropic confirmed losing these customers?

No. The moves are reported by The Information, based on statements from customer executives. Neither lab has publicly confirmed the deals, and the Replit partnership in particular was disputed when it was first discussed at TechCrunch Disrupt.

Will AI tools get cheaper for small businesses and individuals?

Probably, but not overnight and not evenly. Enterprise discounts usually pressure the whole pricing ladder, and cheaper rivals like DeepSeek and Kimi add to that pressure. Compare providers before renewing, ask for a better rate, and keep your setup portable.

About the Author

Sidra Salman is the founder of AI Tools Hub, where she writes practical, research-backed guides on AI tools. Every guide is tested and written in plain English for a US audience.