If your company contracts artificial intelligence services and pays a monthly bill to Anthropic, you may have already received a call from a competitor with an offer that is hard to refuse. OpenAI is offering discounts of up to 90% to the major corporate clients of its main rival, and the strategy is paying off, according to a report by the specialized outlet The Information.
The move comes at a key moment for the sector: while demand for language models continues to grow, competition to secure the most profitable accounts has intensified. For companies that rely on these tools, the current moment offers unprecedented bargaining power.
Rippling reverses its workload distribution
One of the clearest examples is Rippling, a human resources software company. Its CEO, Parker Conrad, confirmed that OpenAI's share of the company's programming workload increased from 16% to 52%.
Conversely, Anthropic's share of those same tasks fell from 57% to 18%. The distribution between both providers has been almost completely reversed in a matter of months.
This does not mean that Rippling has severed ties with Anthropic: the company continues to use both providers. But the trend toward OpenAI is evident.
Replit switches providers for a multi-million dollar contract
Replit, an online software development platform, also changed its primary provider after OpenAI offered it a discount of more than 30% on a contract exceeding $100 million annually.
That percentage, applied to such a volume, translates into savings of more than $30 million per year. A figure that any finance department must take seriously.
According to the report, this discount was not an isolated case, but part of a broader commercial campaign by OpenAI to capture Anthropic's largest accounts.
DataCamp reduces its costs by up to 90%
The most extreme case corresponds to DataCamp, a data science training platform. Its CEO, Jonathan Cornelissen, stated that OpenAI's new pricing reduced their artificial intelligence costs by between 80% and 90%.
This is the deepest price cut documented in The Information's report. Savings of that magnitude can completely transform the economic viability of a product that depends on language models to function.
A US bank doubles licenses at no additional cost
OpenAI's strategy is not limited to software development. A US bank with more than $7 billion in assets saw the company double its ChatGPT licenses to 500 employees at no additional cost.
The entity pays less than $7 per user, compared to the $20 or more that the standard rate usually costs. This represents a reduction of about two-thirds compared to the usual price.
With these types of offers, a compliance or customer service department can go from a few dozen users to several hundred without needing to renegotiate the allocated budget.
Market share at the expense of margins
According to The Information, OpenAI is buying part of this market share by sacrificing its own profit margins. The company is selling below what would be economically ideal in order to win clients from its main competitor.
However, not all of the discount is due to an aggressive commercial strategy. OpenAI has also achieved real price cuts thanks to its Sol and Luna model families, which are more efficient and make better use of available infrastructure.
This distinction is relevant: part of the discount is a temporary commercial investment that could disappear, while another part responds to a lower structural cost that can be maintained over time.
Anthropic slows down while China pushes with low prices
Anthropic's growth slowed between the second and third quarters, according to a memo to investors cited by The Information.
In addition to pressure from OpenAI, there is competition from China. New models from Deepseek and Kimi offer comparable performance for a fraction of the cost, adding another front to the price war.
Both OpenAI and Anthropic now face pressure from two different directions: the direct rivalry between them and the advance of low-cost Chinese models.
What this means for companies that contract AI
If your company uses language models for its operations, the current moment clearly favors the client. The cases of Rippling, Replit, DataCamp, and the US bank demonstrate that discounts arrive when there is contract volume and a willingness to distribute the workload between providers.
Before renewing a contract, it is advisable to request offers from more than one provider and evaluate what part of the work can be moved from one to the other, just as Rippling did with its programming tasks.
It is also important to distinguish what part of the offered price corresponds to a stable long-term rate and what part is a commercial promotion that could disappear once the business relationship is consolidated.
Frequently asked questions
Why is OpenAI offering such large discounts?
According to The Information, OpenAI is seeking to gain market share at the expense of Anthropic, even sacrificing part of its profit margin on some contracts. Part of the savings also comes from more efficient models like Sol and Luna.
Which companies have switched from Anthropic to OpenAI?
Documented cases include Rippling, which increased its use of OpenAI from 16% to 52% for programming tasks; Replit, which signed a contract with a discount of more than 30%; and DataCamp, which reduced its costs by 80% to 90%.
Does this mean Anthropic is losing all its clients?
Not necessarily. Companies like Rippling continue to use both providers, albeit with a very different distribution of work than before. It is a change in the proportion of use, not a total break with Anthropic.
How does Chinese competition affect this price war?
Models developed in China, such as Deepseek and Kimi, offer similar performance at a much lower cost, which adds additional pressure on both OpenAI and Anthropic in the global artificial intelligence market.
What should a company do before renewing its AI contract?
It is advisable to compare offers from different providers, evaluate what part of the workload can be shared between them, and verify whether the discount offered is a stable rate or a temporary commercial promotion.
