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Most buyers should pick Anthropic.
Choose Anthropic if you want published per-token API rates, Claude Code, and clear prices for individual and team plans. Choose OpenAI if you need ChatGPT alongside an API Platform, or want its listed Codex access and broader range of ChatGPT plans. For either, verify SDK support, API costs, rate limits, and data-export terms before committing: the homepages do not settle those codebase and production questions.
01Side by side
| Anthropic | OpenAI | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Subscriptions, seats, API tokens, and metered add-ons | Subscriptions, seats, API Platform; API rates not published |
| Free tier | Limited usage every five hours and weekly | Limited daily quotas across listed features |
| API and SDKs | Claude API rates listed; SDK details not published | API Platform listed; rates and SDK details not published |
| Coding tools | Claude Code included with Pro | Extended Codex access on Pro plans |
| Platforms | Web | Web |
| Usage limits | Plan usage ceilings; API token metering | Plan quotas and context windows listed |
| Team plans | 2–150 seats; $25 or $125 monthly | 2–200 seats; $25 or $125 monthly |
| Product range | Claude Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus | ChatGPT, GPT-6.1 Terra, and Images 2.6 |
Anthropic Choose Anthropic if
- Choose Anthropic if per-token API pricing matters before implementation.
- Choose Anthropic if Claude Code and Projects fit your workflow.
- Choose Anthropic if you need published team-seat and API add-on prices.
OpenAI Choose OpenAI if
- Choose OpenAI if you want ChatGPT and an API Platform from one vendor.
- Choose OpenAI if its listed Codex access suits your development workflow.
- Choose OpenAI if your team needs a plan for up to 200 users.
02Pricing at real usage
Both have free tiers, but neither is an unlimited development sandbox. Anthropic Free has limited usage every five hours and weekly, plus up to five Projects. OpenAI Free lists limited daily quotas for uploads, images, voice, browsing, Codex and deep research, with a 27K-token context window. For individuals, Anthropic Pro is $20 monthly or $17 monthly with annual billing ($200 upfront); OpenAI Go is $8 monthly and Plus is $20. Anthropic Max is $100 and Ultra $200 monthly. OpenAI Pro tiers cost $100, $200 or $500 monthly. Team seats start at $25 monthly or $20 annually on both; Anthropic Team covers 2–150 users, OpenAI Business 2–200. Anthropic also lists API rates per MTok, from Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 input/$0.50 output to Fable 5.1 at $10/$50. OpenAI API rates are not published, so estimate costs against your workload before choosing.
03API, SDKs and integration
OpenAI explicitly lists an API Platform alongside ChatGPT and ChatGPT Business. Anthropic's pricing lists API token rates, and its Pro plan includes Claude Code and Projects. Those are useful starting points, but they do not answer how either product fits a particular codebase. The homepages do not identify SDK languages, protocol details, authentication flows, or API documentation paths. Check the vendor docs for those before selecting an SDK or estimating migration work.
Anthropic's homepage does not name integrations. OpenAI links to a Zapier customer story, but that is not an integration guarantee or a compatibility list. OpenAI plan details list Codex access; they do not establish a CLI workflow or its supported environments. Ask both vendors about current SDK maintenance, versioning, retries, rate limits, and how to instrument failures. For a production integration, compare the API contract and operational limits, not only the chat products.
04Open source, self-hosting and lock-in
Neither homepage identifies an open-source licence, a self-hosted deployment option, or data-export terms. That means we cannot compare licence obligations or claim that either product can run inside your infrastructure. Both list web access, but a web entry point alone does not settle where processing runs or what controls are available for your deployment.
Before adopting either API, ask how to export prompts, outputs, files, project data, and relevant logs; whether deletion is available; and what formats exports use. Also confirm whether you can move prompts, tool definitions, and evaluation data to another provider without rebuilding them. Those answers determine practical lock-in and migration effort. For regulated or isolated workloads, request deployment, retention, and contractual details directly from the vendor.
Questions people ask
Which is cheaper for API use, Anthropic or OpenAI?
Anthropic publishes per-token API prices for its listed models, including Haiku 5.5, Sonnet 5.5, Opus 5.5, and Fable 5.1. OpenAI's API rates are not published in the plan details here, so we can't compare equivalent workloads. Ask for current rates and estimate tokens per request before choosing.
Can I self-host Anthropic or OpenAI models?
The vendors' homepages list web products, but do not specify self-hosted deployment options. Don't assume either model can run in your infrastructure. Ask the vendor about deployment choices, data processing, retention, and any requirements for isolated or regulated workloads.
Do Anthropic and OpenAI offer free plans?
Yes. Anthropic Free includes limited usage every five hours and weekly, and up to five Projects. OpenAI Free lists limited daily quotas across features such as uploads, images, voice, browsing, Codex, and deep research. Neither free plan should be treated as an unlimited production API allowance.
Which has better developer tooling?
Anthropic lists Claude Code in its Pro plan, while OpenAI plan details list Codex access. OpenAI also explicitly names an API Platform; Anthropic's pricing lists API token rates. The homepages don't settle SDK language support, CLI details, or integration compatibility, so verify those against your stack.