AI Subscription Comparison — Anthropic vs OpenAI

Claude Pro

OAuth Killed

$20 /mo

Rate limit40k TPM / 50 RPM
Daily cap1M tokens/day
3rd party OAuth❌ Killed Apr 4
API accessTier 1 reference only

Claude Max

OAuth Killed

$100 /mo

Rate limitsHigher than Pro
3rd party OAuth❌ Killed Apr 4
Best forHeavy Claude users

Anthropic API (Pay-as-you-go)

No flat fee

Claude Sonnet $3 input / $15 output per MTok
Claude Opus $5 input / $25 output per MTok
Heavy daily use (500 req) ~$600–$1,500/mo estimated
3rd party OAuth ❌ Killed Apr 4

ChatGPT Plus

OAuth OK

$20 /mo

GPT-5.4~33–168 msg / 5hr
GPT-5.4-mini~110–560 msg / 5hr
Codex (GPT-5.3)~45–225 msg + 10–25 cloud tasks / 5hr
Codex Spark❌ Pro only
Priority access❌ Not included
3rd party OAuth✅ Supported

ChatGPT Pro

OAuth OK

$200 /mo

GPT-5.4~198–1,008 msg / 5hr
GPT-5.4-mini~660–3,360 msg / 5hr
Codex (GPT-5.3)~270–1,350 msg + 60–360 cloud / 5hr
Codex Spark✅ INCLUDED (speed-optimized)
Priority access✅ Included
3rd party OAuth✅ Supported

6× more capacity than Plus across all models. Best for multi-agent workflows.

OpenAI API (Pay-as-you-go — separate from subscription)

Usage billed

GPT-5.4 $2.50 input / $15 output per MTok
GPT-5.4 Pro (reasoning) $30 input / $180 output per MTok
GPT-5.4-mini $0.40 input / $1.60 output per MTok

Assuming ~4 active 5-hour windows per day (some overlap + rest time):

132–672

GPT-5.4 messages/day
ChatGPT Plus

792–4,032

GPT-5.4 messages/day
ChatGPT Pro

72,000

Theoretical requests/day
Anthropic API Tier 1
(50 RPM × 60 × 24)

Anthropic daily token cap 1M tokens/day (API)
Brent's actual daily use ~200–500 Sonnet requests/day (heavy multi-agent)

⚠️ Multi-agent note: On a heavy day with 5 simultaneous sub-agents, each agent's requests count against the shared OAuth pool. Plus limits could be hit within 2–3 hours. Pro limits are more comfortable for this pattern.

ChatGPT Pro — Flat Rate

$200/mo

All OAuth, no API billing surprises. Best if usage stays within Pro limits. Codex Spark included. Priority processing. Cleanest option for heavy multi-agent use.

ChatGPT Plus + Anthropic API — Hybrid

~$70–$170/mo

Plus ($20/mo) for Cody/Bomb coding agents via OAuth + Anthropic API for main agent. Cheaper if API usage is moderate. Watch for bill spikes on heavy days.

All Anthropic API

~$600–$1,500/mo

Most expensive. OAuth killed April 4 — 3rd-party tools no longer work. Not recommended unless Anthropic restores OAuth access.

🤖 AI Subscription Comparison