OpenAI vs Anthropic
OpenAI, founded in 2015, is structured as a nonprofit-controlled entity, the OpenAI Foundation, over OpenAI Group PBC, with Microsoft holding a large minority stake, and ships the ChatGPT apps and GPT-6 models. Anthropic, founded in 2021, is a public benefit corporation that ships the Claude apps, Claude Code and the Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5 and Haiku 4.5 models. Choose OpenAI's products for ChatGPT's broad consumer ecosystem and plugin-like features; choose Anthropic's for Claude Code and Anthropic's safety-focused public benefit structure.
Facts checked on against the official sources listed at the end. Usage numbers update daily.
Best for
Consumers and developers who want ChatGPT's broad ecosystem and GPT-6 models
Free plan. Paid from $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus; API pricing varies by model.
Best for
Developers and teams who want Claude Code and Anthropic's safety-focused structure
Free plan. Paid from $20 a month for Claude Pro; API from $1 per million input tokens (Haiku 4.5).
OpenAI vs Anthropic at a glance
| Compared on | OpenAI | Anthropic |
|---|---|---|
| Founding year | 2015 | 2021 |
| Corporate structure | OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit, controls OpenAI Group PBC, a public benefit corporation; Microsoft holds a large minority stake | Anthropic PBC, a public benefit corporation |
| Consumer app | ChatGPT, with Free, Go, Plus ($20/month) and Pro ($200/month) individual tiers | Claude apps, with Free, Pro ($20/month) and Max (from $100/month) individual tiers |
| Current flagship model family | GPT-6, in Astra, Sol and Luna tiers | Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5 and Haiku 4.5 |
| Built-in coding agent | Not bundled with ChatGPT plans; Codex models are billed separately per token via the API | Claude Code, included with Pro and Max subscriptions |
| Major cloud availability | Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service | Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI |
| Open source | No, Proprietary | No, Proprietary |
| Free plan | Yes, in ChatGPT. The API has no free plan and is billed per token. | Yes, in the Claude apps. The API is billed per token. |
| Paid plans from | $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus; API pricing varies by model | $20 a month for Claude Pro; API from $1 per million input tokens (Haiku 4.5) |
| Made by | OpenAI Foundation / OpenAI Group PBC | Anthropic PBC |
| Launched | 2015 | 2021 |
What's the difference between OpenAI and Anthropic?
OpenAI is nonprofit-controlled, Anthropic is a public benefit corporation
OpenAI's structure has the OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit, controlling OpenAI Group PBC, a public benefit corporation, with Microsoft holding a large minority stake in the group. Anthropic is directly organized as a public benefit corporation, Anthropic PBC, without a separate controlling nonprofit foundation.
Anthropic bundles a coding agent into its subscriptions, OpenAI doesn't
Claude Code, a terminal and IDE coding agent, comes included with Claude Pro and Max subscriptions at no extra per-token cost. OpenAI's coding-focused model, gpt-5.3-codex, is billed separately per token through the API rather than bundled into a ChatGPT plan.
Each is tied to a different major cloud
OpenAI's models are available through the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, reflecting Microsoft's investment in the company. Anthropic's Claude models are available through Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI instead, with no Azure offering.
ChatGPT has a wider range of individual pricing tiers than the Claude apps
ChatGPT's individual plans span Free, Go, Plus at $20 a month and Pro at $200 a month. Anthropic's Claude apps offer Free, Pro at $20 a month and Max starting at $100 a month, one fewer named individual tier than ChatGPT.
OpenAI vs Anthropic pricing
Both companies price their consumer chat apps similarly at the entry paid tier and bill API access per token, but their top consumer tiers and structure differ.
OpenAI
ChatGPT: Free, Plus at $20 a month, Pro at $200 a month, plus custom Business and Enterprise plans. API access is billed per token and varies by GPT-6 model tier.
- ChatGPT Free
- $0
- ChatGPT Plus
- $20 a month
- ChatGPT Pro
- $200 a month
- ChatGPT Business / Enterprise
- Custom pricing
- API pricing
- Varies by model, e.g. GPT-6 Luna from $0.10 input / $0.50 output per million tokens
Anthropic
Claude apps: Free, Pro at $20 a month ($17 billed yearly), Max from $100 a month, and Team at $25 a seat a month. API access is billed per token and varies by model, from Haiku 4.5 to Fable 5.1.
- Free
- $0
- Pro
- $20 a month, or $17 a month billed yearly
- Max
- From $100 a month
- Team
- $25 per seat a month, or $20 billed yearly; premium seats $100
- API: Haiku 4.5
- $1 input / $5 output per million tokens
- API: Sonnet 5
- $2 input / $10 output per million tokens
- API: Opus 5.5
- $4 input / $20 output per million tokens
- API: Fable 5.1
- $10 input / $50 output per million tokens
Prices in USD from the official pricing pages on 29 September 2026. They change often, so confirm on openai.com and claude.com before you commit.
Usage and activity
OpenAI has 5.3 times as many GitHub stars as Anthropic (11.2k against 2.1k). Weekly npm downloads: 51M for openai and 54M for @anthropic-ai/sdk. Releases on GitHub in the last 90 days: 10 for OpenAI and 10 for Anthropic.
| Measure | OpenAI | Anthropic |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 11,206 | 2,132 |
| npm downloads a week | 51M (openai) | 54M (@anthropic-ai/sdk) |
| Latest release | v7.30.0, 1 day ago | google-cloud-sdk…, 1 week ago |
| Releases in 90 days | 10 | 10 |
From the public GitHub and npm APIs, updated daily. Stars and downloads show developer interest, not product quality.
Should you choose OpenAI or Anthropic?
Choose OpenAI if
- You want ChatGPT's consumer ecosystem, including image generation and voice
- You're already using Microsoft Azure and want OpenAI billed through that account
- You want a dedicated top consumer tier (Pro at $200 a month) with the most usage
- You want a separately priced, specialized coding model like gpt-5.3-codex
Choose Anthropic if
- You want a coding agent, Claude Code, included with your subscription rather than billed separately
- You're already using AWS or Google Cloud and want Anthropic billed through that account
- You want to use a company organized directly as a public benefit corporation
- You want Claude's long-context models for large documents or codebases
Switching between OpenAI and Anthropic
Both are accessed through a similar chat app and token-billed API model, so switching mainly means changing accounts, re-testing prompts for the other model family's behavior, and, for developers, swapping SDKs and re-mapping rate limits and context windows to the new provider's tiers.
OpenAI vs Anthropic: common questions
Who owns OpenAI?
The OpenAI Foundation, a nonprofit, controls OpenAI Group PBC, a public benefit corporation. Microsoft holds a large minority stake in the group.
Who owns Anthropic?
Anthropic is organized directly as a public benefit corporation, Anthropic PBC, without a separate controlling nonprofit foundation.
Which was founded first, OpenAI or Anthropic?
OpenAI, founded in 2015. Anthropic was founded later, in 2021, by former OpenAI researchers.
Does Anthropic have a consumer app like ChatGPT?
Yes, the Claude apps on web, desktop and mobile, with Free, Pro and Max plans, comparable in structure to ChatGPT's Free, Plus and Pro tiers.
Does OpenAI offer a coding agent like Claude Code?
OpenAI offers a specialized coding model, gpt-5.3-codex, billed per token through the API, but it isn't bundled into a ChatGPT subscription the way Claude Code is bundled into Claude Pro and Max.
Other options to consider
All ai platforms & apis tools
OpenAI API
Pay-per-token API access to OpenAI's GPT models for building AI into your own applications.
Ollama
Run open source AI models locally, with an optional hosted cloud and Pro plan.
Hugging Face
Hub for open source AI models, datasets and demo apps, plus paid hosting for inference and Spaces.
Mistral AI
French AI company building open-weight and proprietary language models, accessed via API or Le Chat.
Sources
More sources for each tool are on the OpenAI and Anthropic pages.
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