[cedws]

There’s the argument that Anthropic has built Claude Code to use the models efficiently, which the subscription pricing is based on.

Maybe there’s some truth to that, but then why haven’t OpenAI made the same move? I believe the main reason is platform control. Anthropic can’t survive as a pipeline for tokens, they need to build and control a platform, which means aggressively locking out everybody else building a platform.

[Zetaphor]

Alternatively products like openclaw have an outsized impact on Anthropic's infrastructure for essentially no benefit to them. Especially when you're taking advantage of the $200 plan.

OpenAI has never shyed away from burning mountains of cash to try and capture a little more market share. They paid a billion dollars for a vibe coded mess just for the opportunity to associate themselves with the hype.

[plusplusungood]

> Taking advantage of the $200 plan.

No, I'm paying $200 a month for a premium product that I expect premium service for. It's the single most expensive IT expense I have. Taking advantage my foot.

[59nadir]

Can you imagine paying the actual cost of it, or a subscription cost that at least ballpark matched it? I don't think I have a single friend or acquaintance who realistically would.

[infecto]

You are simply a bit too entitled. It's not a premium product and honestly not that expensive in my opinion either (though that is going to depend on your location).

You are more than able to pay for API rates.

[siva7]

You may want to learn the difference between someone being able to pay API rates and someone willing to pay API rates. I'm sure many people on HN are able to pay API rates and almost all of them aren't willing to pay API rates. The providers know this hence why subscriptions exist. API is almost solely used by companies as almost no private person would be willing to pay that.

[infecto]

“You may want to learn” such choice way to introduce your position which is really not much of one.

If you are going to come and complain about a $200 subscription that gives you $400 worth of API tokens there is only so much room to complain. Only so many lemons can be squeezed. Hope that was a helpful for you.

[Dylan16807]

A normal person pays $0-10 for an AI plan, maybe double that for a business.

$200 is premium.

[infecto]

It is not a premium service, it simply is buying you more tokens. Those $200 gives you at least $400 in API cost tokens.

Don't confused price with "premium service". It was not that long ago that folks would be spending $100-200 on their cable service bundle. You are buying a subsidized product when using the plan and the more you spend the more tokens you get, has nothing to do with being a premium service.

[everforward]

This is a messaging issue on their part, which I think is partially intentional.

It’s not unreasonable for people to expect the most expensive subscription plan to be “premium”. That’s how it works everywhere else. They typically have better margins on the premium plans, and the monthly payment gives them reliable cash flow at that higher margin.

You’re right that that’s not true at Anthropic (or really most AI providers). You’re not even really buying tokens because you get billed whether you use it or not, the tokens don’t carry over like buying API tokens, and they get to dictate what an acceptable way to use those tokens is. They are cheaper though, assuming you actually use them. Which Anthropic et al would really prefer you didn’t.

[Dylan16807]

> It is not a premium service, it simply is buying you more tokens.

The cheap plans are usually semi-unlimited the same way but not as powerful. This isn't simply a matter of buying more tokens.

> It was not that long ago that folks would be spending $100-200 on their cable service bundle.

Compared to OTA that's premium, but more relevantly if most cable buyers are getting a hypothetical $10 bundle then the $100 one is a premium bundle.

[charcircuit]

It's not a premium product. It's just expensive.

[qeternity]

> They paid a billion dollars for a vibe coded mess just for the opportunity to associate themselves with the hype.

Lol no they didn't. It wasn't even an acquihire. They just hired Peter.

Maybe they are paying him incredibly well, but not a billion dollars well.

[snovv_crash]

I think it's a training data thing. They can only gather valid training data from real human interactions, so they don't want to subsidize tokens for purely automated interactions.