Anthropic earlier this month announced a benefit for its Max and Team subscription tiers: subscribers on the $100, $200 and $500 per month plans receive an equivalent amount of expiring credits to use with the Anthropic API. Those credits are tied to the subscription and must be spent before they expire.
OpenAI has now rolled out a nearly identical offering. Customers on OpenAI’s $100, $200 and $500 monthly ChatGPT plans are being granted the same quantity of API credits, which can be applied to one of their API organizations. These credits are also expiring balances.
Practical implications
- Subscribers at the $100, $200 and $500 price points at either Anthropic or OpenAI will receive API credits equal to their subscription level.
- The credits are usable only with the issuing company’s API and have an expiration; they are not a permanent, transferable balance.
For users who hold subscriptions at both providers, the credits can cover development or demo costs, lowering the marginal expense of running public-facing demos or experimental projects.
Why it matters
Tying API credits to existing subscription tiers signals that major LLM providers are incentivizing API usage and competing for developer and enterprise engagement. For higher-tier subscribers, the credit packages can offset some of the additional costs of building on or showcasing the providers’ APIs.
Note on timing and source
Anthropic announced its offer earlier in the month, and OpenAI introduced the similar packages subsequently. The announcements come from the two companies’ communications; the author of this report maintains subscriptions with both services and notes the personal usefulness of the new credits.
