Anthropic faces scrutiny from startups over competing product launches

Artificial intelligence startups are expressing growing concern over their reliance on Anthropic, comparing the relationship to Amazon’s marketplace strategy where the platform provider eventually competes with its own users.

Legal AI startup Spellbook reported that after being assured Anthropic would not enter the legal software market, the company launched Claude for Legal, a tool featuring functions that directly overlap with Spellbook’s core services. Consequently, Spellbook has redirected a significant portion of its financial resources toward OpenAI. Similarly, design software company Figma experienced tension after Anthropic’s product chief resigned from Figma’s board shortly before the launch of Claude Design.

Beyond product competition, some entrepreneurs have cited inflexible pricing and high costs as reasons for migrating to alternative models, such as DeepSeek. While Anthropic has expanded its Claude Startups program to offer discounts, the company’s massive scale and market dominance have created a precarious environment for emerging enterprises that depend on its foundational intelligence models.