[dragonwriter]

You aren't paying for usage, you are paying for the product that the subscription is offered to. If you are paying for usage, well, that's their billed by token-usage API plan, which they are quite happy for you to use with any client you want.

[stavros]

Even worse, if I'm paying a subscription for the product, and I don't want to use the product, what's it to them?

[FeepingCreature]

You are free to not use it. You are not free to use the API provided specifically for the product, which you are not explicitly paying for, for a different product.

You can of course use OpenCode or any other project with the API, which is also offered as a separate product. People just don't want to do that because it's not subsidized, ie. more expensive. But the entire reason it's subsidized is that Anthropic can use the data to improve their product.

[rglullis]

> But the entire reason it's subsidized is that Anthropic can use the data to improve their product.

This is grade A, absolute crap. It's subsidized because everyone else is subsidizing it, and everyone is doing it because they are trying to lock their consumer share.

The solution is quite simple. Just get the FTC to forbid tie-in sales so that we don't get the huge corporations using their infinite resources to outlive the competition. Anthropic/Amazon/Google/OpenAI/Facebook can offer any type of service they want, but if the access to the API costs $X when offered standalone, then that is the baseline price for anything that depends on the API to work.

[FeepingCreature]

I'm fine with this as well. I just dislike everyone here presenting it like this is Anthropic being unreasonable. Given the product that is offered and why it's being offered, this is completely reasonable to do.

I don't use the Anthropic subscriptions either.

[xvector]

Do you not understand that they run the regular subscription at a huge loss? In exchange they require you to stick with Claude Code.

You are free to use the API.

[regenschutz]

Why can't they run the API at a huge loss too then??

[dragonwriter]

Because if you do everything at a huge loss, you run out of runway very quickly.

[hluska]

I’m not saying this is a bubble; I don’t know whether than it is or not. But if it is a bubble, I’ve only seen one bubble this big in tech. When that bubble popped, the only companies that survived kept their costs in check. Some raised a round right before the bubble popped but cost control was always part or their survival.

[duskdozer]

To be honest the fact that they are already clamping down makes me think their situation is getting strained.