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Windsurf says Anthropic is limiting its direct access to Claude AI models | TechCrunch

Jun 04, 2025 - techcrunch.com
Windsurf, a coding startup reportedly acquired by OpenAI, is facing challenges due to Anthropic's decision to significantly reduce its first-party access to Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Claude 3.5 Sonnet AI models with less than five days' notice. This has forced Windsurf to seek third-party compute providers, potentially causing short-term availability issues for its users. The situation worsened when Windsurf was not given direct access to Anthropic's new Claude 4 models at launch, unlike competitors such as Anysphere’s Cursor and Microsoft’s GitHub Copilot. This lack of access has frustrated Windsurf users and may hinder the startup's growth, despite reaching $100 million ARR in April.

Anthropic, focusing on sustainable partnerships, has launched its own AI coding application, Claude Code, and held a developer conference. While developers can still access Claude models via API keys, this workaround is more costly and complex. Windsurf's spokesperson emphasized the company's commitment to providing optionality for users, though Anthropic's actions have complicated this goal. The competitive AI-assisted coding sector, or vibe coding, continues to evolve rapidly, with major players like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic frequently releasing new models.

Key takeaways:

  • Windsurf, a coding startup reportedly acquired by OpenAI, is facing reduced access to Anthropic's Claude 3.x models, leading to potential short-term availability issues.
  • Anthropic's decision to limit Windsurf's access comes shortly after the launch of Claude 4, which Windsurf did not receive direct access to, unlike other AI coding tools.
  • Windsurf users are frustrated by the lack of direct access to Anthropic's models, with some switching to competitors like Cursor for better access to Claude 4.
  • Windsurf allows users to connect their own Anthropic API keys as a workaround, but this solution is more expensive and complicated than direct access.
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