Anthropics Sudden Restriction of Claude 3.x Access Sparks Concerns Amid OpenAIs Acquisition of Windsurf

Shortly after it was revealed that OpenAI intends to acquire Windsurf, Anthropic has restricted nearly all access to its Claude 3.x models on the development platform.

According to Windsurf, this decision affects Claude 3.5 Sonnet, 3.7 Sonnet, and 3.7 Sonnet Thinking. Although some limited access remains for third-party providers, it is insufficient to meet the existing demand.

Consequently, Windsurf has disabled direct access to Claude 3.x models for both free and Pro trial users. The only way to use these models now is to set them up with a pre-existing key (BYOK). Claude Sonnet 4 is also accessible via BYOK. Additionally, this model can be tested on BotHub, a platform that allows users to try out all popular models without restrictions. No VPN is needed to access the service, and payment can be made with a Russian card. By following this link, you can acquire 100,000 free tokens for your initial tasks and start working immediately!

To alleviate the situation, Windsurf is temporarily offering Gemini 2.5 Pro at a reduced rate of 0.75x instead of the usual 1x. The company presents Gemini as a high-performance alternative on its platform.

Windsurf emphasizes that it has «always been willing to pay for the power» of Anthropic’s models, even recommending Claude as a preferred choice. The startup claims that the abrupt withdrawal of access harms its own service and sends alarming signals across the industry.

«We are concerned that Anthropic’s actions will negatively impact many in the industry, not just Windsurf,» the startup states.

Windsurf is developing an AI-driven code generation tool that competes with Anthropic’s own Claude Code tool.

Information regarding OpenAI’s $3 billion plans to acquire Windsurf (formerly known as Codeium) surfaced on Bloomberg just days before Anthropic’s decision. By cutting off access, it seems that Anthropic is obstructing Claude’s usage by a future competitor belonging to OpenAI. The company may also aim to prevent data generated by Claude from entering the OpenAI ecosystem, either directly or indirectly.

Windsurf points out that its true strength lies not only in the underlying AI models but also in its product architecture focused on programming interfaces, along with tools for previewing and deployment.

However, some argue that this is irrelevant if the quality of the code is lacking, which ultimately hinges on the AI model itself. Anthropic is generally regarded as a leader in this field, although the top models from various companies are now very close in quality.

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