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0 pointsmapontosevenths4mo ago0 comments

It sounds pretty reasonable to me that they sell a subscription without API access at a different price than the one with that feature. It's obviously a very useful feature or the workaround wouldn't exist, right?

To me it sounds like the CLI subscription is a loss-leader designed to get you hooked so you'll upgrade once you realize it's valuable enough to pay extra for the "premium" features. It also sounds pretty reasonable to ban products designed to cheat them out of the difference in cost.

Am I missing some nuance, or is this just internet people being cheap?

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vessenes4mo ago

The cli subscription actually actively cannibalizes the API business in my experience. I think this is a product decision: if you use it to code, they want to control the user experience.

If you use it to back up 100,000 MAUs, then they want you to use the API.

I was originally an API user but the cli subscription is so much cheaper that I switched over. This is a combination of th CLI getting much more useful and reasoning models using many more tokens.

azuanrb4mo ago

Comparing this to API access feels odd to me. Opencode does not magically convert your subscription into API usage. It is just an alternative to the official CLI. It has a web UI, smoother UX, and less flickering. Nothing groundbreaking, but it is pretty annoying that even something as simple as tagging files with @ is still so laggy.

HumanOstrich4mo ago

How do you think Claude Code and OpenCode communicate with Anthropic? Through the API. Maybe it's accessed slightly differently for subscription users. Anthropic is saying you can't use the API via a subscription anywhere you want. Only Claude Code can use it that way.

mapontoseventhsOP4mo ago

OpenCode doesnt use the official API. It illegally bypasses it and pretends to be the Claude CLI app, which allows people who dont pay for API access to use it anyhow. That violates Anthropics TOS and robs them of income they rightfully should have had.

If you dont like a service or cant afford it dont use it. If you do and you can, be a paying customer.

HumanOstrich4mo ago

You just repeated what I said in a different way. It is accessed differently, but it's still going to go through the same APIs at Anthropic. Maybe they have some differences or use different endpoints, but Anthropic didn't duplicate their entire business for CC vs official API users.

Edit: I appreciate the reply that we're probably on the same page.

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vessenes4mo ago

The cli subscription actually actively cannibalizes the API business in my experience. I think this is a product decision: if you use it to code, they want to control the user experience.

If you use it to back up 100,000 MAUs, then they want you to use the API.

I was originally an API user but the cli subscription is so much cheaper that I switched over. This is a combination of th CLI getting much more useful and reasoning models using many more tokens.

azuanrb4mo ago

HumanOstrich4mo ago

mapontoseventhsOP4mo ago

If you dont like a service or cant afford it dont use it. If you do and you can, be a paying customer.

HumanOstrich4mo ago

Edit: I appreciate the reply that we're probably on the same page.

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j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse