SemiAnalysis: on the daily-driver models, a $200 Claude plan buys about 5x the API-equivalent value of OpenAI's

SemiAnalysis has measured how much model use each $200-a-month AI subscription actually buys, and on the models both labs pitch as the daily driver, Anthropic's plan comes out far ahead. Comparing Claude Opus 5.5 with GPT-6.1 Sol, SemiAnalysis says Anthropic offers "~5x the API-equivalent value across the board". It published the report on October 5.

HOW THEY MEASURED IT

Subscriptions only show a usage meter, so SemiAnalysis ran repeated calls that isolate one token type at a time (input, cache write, cache read, output) and watched how far each provider's meter moved. It then converted each plan's limit into what the same tokens would cost at API prices. It says the right comparison is always plan, model and workload together, and that it tracks Meta, SpaceXAI, Cursor, Cognition, Z.ai, MiniMax and Moonshot as well.

WHAT IT FOUND

- Top models: about even. A $200 OpenAI plan is used up after $2,897 worth of GPT-6 Astra. A $200 Anthropic plan reaches its Fable cap after $2,485 worth of Fable 5.1, but Fable can only use 50% of the limit, so half the plan is still left for other models. - Daily-driver models: about 5x in Anthropic's favour, Opus 5.5 against GPT-6.1 Sol. SemiAnalysis says the gap stays large even when you count tokens instead of dollars, which takes Sol's lower per-token price into account. - OpenAI's recent change: SemiAnalysis's tracking confirms OpenAI halved the token limits on its $200 plan. Plans bought before the cut keep the old limits until October 29. The new $500 plan gives only 21% more Astra than the old $200 plan did.

WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW

Most of the report and its full per-plan tables are behind SemiAnalysis's paywall. Figures circulating on X, such as $11,726 against $2,084 a month, come from its charts, which we have not seen, so they are not repeated here as fact. Limits change without notice, so treat every number as a snapshot from early October.