OpenAI Mulls Cutting AI Prices Ahead of IPO Amid Anthropic Competition

OpenAI is exploring substantial reductions in the fees it charges for AI usage as competition with rival Anthropic intensifies. The company is considering lowering token prices—the unit used to bill developers and enterprises—for its subscription tiers, which currently range from about $8 to over $100 per month. CEO Sam Altman has said that high AI costs have become "a huge issue" and promised to help customers get "more value for less spend.

Both OpenAI and Anthropic have recently filed confidential paperwork for initial public offerings in the United States, positioning the pricing discussion ahead of their market debuts. Anthropic, whose Claude models have seen rapid revenue growth and a recent valuation of roughly $965 billion—surpassing OpenAI's $852 billion—has also been expected to consider price cuts. Analysts warn that a price war could compress margins for both firms, which are already losing billions each year on compute infrastructure.

The potential cuts are reported by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, with industry observers noting that the move reflects broader pressure from enterprise customers who are increasingly scrutinising AI spend, a practice dubbed "tokenmaxxing" when firms consume large volumes of tokens without clear ROI.