Anthropic has abruptly terminated Windsurf’s direct access to Claude 3.x models with less than five days’ notice, according to an announcement from Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan on Tuesday. The decision comes as OpenAI reportedly moves to acquire the AI coding platform for $3 billion.
Sudden Anthropic Access Restriction Disrupts Service
Mohan announced the restriction on X (formerly Twitter), stating that Anthropic “decided to cut off nearly all of our first-party capacity to all Claude 3.x models” despite Windsurf’s willingness to pay for full capacity.
“We have been very clear to Anthropic that this is not our desire – we wanted to pay them for the full capacity,” Mohan wrote. “We are disappointed by this decision and short notice.”
The restriction has caused temporary availability issues for Windsurf users, though the company says Windsurf users can access Claude via bring-your-own-key.
OpenAI Acquisition Creates Competitive Tension with Anthropic
Bloomberg reported on May 6 that OpenAI agreed to buy Windsurf for approximately $3 billion, marking what would be OpenAI’s largest acquisition to date. The deal has not yet closed.
Industry observers suggest Anthropic’s timing is strategic, aimed at preventing a competitor from accessing Claude’s capabilities to enhance OpenAI’s models. Other AI coding platforms maintain their Claude access, highlighting the targeted nature of the restriction.
Windsurf Responds with Anthropic Alternatives
To mitigate the impact from Anthropic’s models, Windsurf has promoted alternative models including Gemini 2.5 Pro at a reduced 0.75x rate. The platform’s GPT-4.1 and other model integrations remain unaffected.
