I mean, the signs have been there that the costs to run and operate these models wasn't as simple as inference costs. And the signs were there (and, arguably, are still there) that it costs way, way more than many people like to claim on the part of Anthropic. So to me this price hike is not at all surprising. It was going to come eventually, and I suspect it's nowhere near over. It wouldn't surprise me if in 2-3 years the "max" plan is $800 or $2000 even.
I would not be surprised at all, a $1,000/mo tool that makes your $20,000/mo engineer a lot more productive is an easy sell.
I’m guessing we’re gonna have a world like working on cars - most people won’t have expensive tools (ex a full hydraulic lift) for personal stuff, they are gonna have to make do with lesser tools.
If your company is making $1 mil per employee per year, then 10% is 100k. Even at 500k employee or lesseer numbers it's almost always better to buy the $1000/month tool (break even is a measly $108k revenue per employee per year)
It's not just about cost, it's about having the control, stability, and autonomy of on-prem. Plus you can probably repurpose that compute when employees are out of the office.
