AI plans are expensive. They’re also wildly unprofitable.

Every few months, it seems Anthropic does something to restrict how you can use their subscription plans, either their $20, $100, or $200 plans, and it gets people upset. I’m not going to sit here and tell you that people should be happy when they lose functionality from something they’re paying for. However, I do think it’s worth recognizing that those of us paying for these subscriptions and using the tools anywhere near the limits Anthropic (or OpenAI, for what it’s worth) put on them are costing these companies hundreds to thousands of dollars per month.

I happen to be on an API credit usage plan at work, so I’m able to see in real-time how much my usage costs there. I wouldn’t be able to predict an exact number for how much my personal $100 per month plan is costing Anthropic, but I’m sure I am wildly unprofitable for them. That’s kind of crazy for any piece of $100/month software, but that’s where we’re at.