Replit Ends Anthropic Tie-Up, CEO Cites Cost and Model Performance

Masad made the comments on Thursday during an onstage appearance at TechCrunch Disrupt, saying the decision was reached for several reasons, including expense. "I think ChatGPT is better now," he said.

The chief executive said Replit relies on an internal benchmark to assess metrics such as performance, and that it also publishes a public benchmark. According to Masad, the models Sol and Astra consistently score better at building vibe-coded applications from scratch. He described the move as a judgment based on cost, partnership and performance, saying the competing provider was the better partner "for now."

Replit sells a cloud-based software development platform that lets users build and deploy apps directly inside a browser, and it has become popular among startup founders and developers. Under the Anthropic arrangement, Replit ran its platform on the AI lab's Claude models, a partnership said to have helped the company grow revenue significantly.

Replit announced a partnership with OpenAI in August, but there had been no earlier indication that its work with Anthropic had ended. Masad's account was contested by people familiar with the relationship, however. One person, who asked not to be named, said the partnership was still in place.

Public traces of the tie-up also remain. The company's website, blog posts and social media activity show Replit using Anthropic products as recently as a few weeks ago, according to the same account.