15.06.2026
3 min
19
Popular ChatGPT and Claude subscriptions may cost their creators many times more than users actually pay. A new analysis suggests that OpenAI and Anthropic continue to heavily subsidize their AI services, even when some subscribers generate massive computing costs through intensive usage.
Research firm SemiAnalysis examined the economics behind subscriptions offered by leading AI platforms and found that the true cost of some plans is far higher than their advertised price.
According to the analysis, $200-per-month subscriptions are significantly more generous than previously believed. While many estimates assumed these plans provided around $2,000 worth of usage based on API pricing, the new figures paint a very different picture. SemiAnalysis estimates that a ChatGPT subscriber on such a plan could consume resources worth as much as $14,000 per month, while the equivalent figure for Claude is roughly $8,000.
A similar gap exists with lower-priced subscriptions. Plans that cost around $20 per month can provide users with computing resources valued at approximately $700 in ChatGPT and about $400 in Claude.
Despite these figures, experts do not believe the subscription model is unsustainable. A large share of revenue for AI companies comes not from consumer subscriptions, but from enterprise customers and API services.
In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Anthropic was experiencing “explosive growth.” The company has been rapidly expanding its enterprise business while increasing API revenue, a strategy that could help it reach profitability for the first time.
Subsidized subscriptions also serve another purpose: attracting new users and generating valuable data that can be used to improve AI models. In turn, stronger models make these platforms more appealing to the corporate customers that generate the bulk of their revenue.
According to SemiAnalysis, the profitability of AI subscriptions depends heavily on how much customers actually use them. Assuming OpenAI and Anthropic earn roughly a 75% gross margin on API services, a heavy user of Anthropic’s $200-per-month Claude Max 20x plan could generate a gross margin of around negative 900% for the company.
Even using just 20% of the available allowance could still result in a negative margin of roughly 100%. By contrast, a customer who uses only about 1% of the plan’s capacity could generate a gross profit margin of approximately 90%.
Analysts argue that imposing stricter limits on subscriptions could trigger significant backlash from users. At the same time, the rapidly falling cost of AI computing continues to improve the economics of running these services.
“Clearly, this is far worse than APIs overall. However, explicitly restricting subscriptions leads to enormous public backlash, and the rapid decline in the cost of intelligence means that serving Opus 4.8-level models profitably at $20 per month will likely be possible in the near future,” SemiAnalysis said.
The research firm believes AI companies are more likely to be selective about which new features and models are included in subscription plans rather than cutting existing limits, allowing them to balance operating costs with user expectations.
