Replit names OpenAI default AI partner over Anthropic — SkimNews
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- Amjad Masad, Replit's CEO and co-founder, said at TechCrunch Disrupt that OpenAI's ChatGPT is now Replit's default, citing cost, partnership strength, and benchmark wins for Sol and Astra on vibe-coded app builds
- Replit had been a top-five customer of Anthropic until recently, and previously relied on Claude models to run its platform before striking an August deal with OpenAI
- Customers can still access Anthropic's Claude on Replit, but with most users sticking with the default, the switch could meaningfully reduce Replit's day-to-day spend with Anthropic
- Insiders familiar with the Replit–Anthropic partnership rejected Masad's stage characterization, saying the deal remains in place — Masad later told TechCrunch 'Replit remains model agnostic'
- Replit's own channels undercut the 'switch' narrative: a late-September blog post cited Claude Fable 5 and 5.1 running in Replit Agent, and a Replit product employee posted on X weeks ago promoting Claude Opus 5.5
- Replit's revenue mix has tilted to enterprise: 2% of revenue last year versus ~15% this year, with B2B now exceeding 50%; Masad expects enterprise and government to drive more than half of 2027 revenue
Why it matters: A top-five Anthropic customer shifting its default to OpenAI is a significant blow for Anthropic even if the partnership isn't formally over. Insiders say the Anthropic deal is still active, and Replit was still actively promoting Claude models weeks ago — undercutting the 'dump' framing. With most users sticking with defaults, Replit's per-token spend with Anthropic could drop sharply regardless of whether the formal partnership survives.
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