Software vendors and cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft, Figma, and Workday are introducing fresh discounts on their AI products for clients and consulting partners. Customers, wearied by frequent fluctuations in AI pricing, are showing signs of fatigue. Previously, enterprise clients increased budgets to purchase products like Anthropic's Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex, trimming other expenditures to fund these new investments; now, clients are exercising greater caution when selecting AI tools.

Software makers are shifting toward charging AI service fees based on usage or task completion, a billing model that inflates invoices and has drawn widespread complaints from enterprise customers. For instance, an executive at a multinational manufacturing firm with a market value exceeding USD 40 billion noted that after Microsoft switched its GitHub Copilot code assistant to usage-based billing, the company received at least a one-month grace period during which it could continue paying under the seat-based subscription model. This pricing change means that for the manufacturing firm's employees to use the tool, they must now pay Microsoft an additional USD 150,000 per month. After usage-based billing officially took effect, Microsoft also gifted the company tens of thousands of dollars in free credits for three consecutive months. However, the executive stated that due to the billing rule changes, his team is considering migrating code development work to Anthropic's Claude Code and Cursor, a tool under SpaceX's umbrella.

This new wave of price cuts indicates that four years into the AI boom, traditional software vendors are still figuring out how to compete with emerging AI companies like Anthropic and OpenAI. These new entrants continue to iterate on their technology, automating work across numerous fields such as finance and design, with both companies expected to generate tens of billions of dollars in revenue this year. Adding to the pressure, OpenAI is steadily expanding its customer base on the OpenRouter platform, further squeezing traditional software vendors. At the same time, these legacy players must purchase model capabilities from Anthropic and OpenAI to embed into new AI features within their enterprise applications, all in an effort to retain customers and prevent them from channeling budgets directly to AI-native companies. But procuring such model technology is costly, which is a key reason behind the recent collective pricing adjustments.

Some software companies like Snowflake have seen faster growth in AI-related revenue, but for the majority—including Workday, HubSpot, Salesforce, and Adobe—AI business revenue has yet to show clear acceleration.

Prioritizing Adoption, Adoption, Adoption

Mike Turcotte, Chief Information Officer at credit scoring company FICO, says many traditional software vendors are bending over backward to retain large clients like FICO and prevent budgets from flowing to Anthropic and OpenAI—and FICO is reaping the benefits. He noted that dozens of software suppliers added AI features for free during contract renewals this year, though he declined to name the vendors (FICO employs over 3,000 people and works with suppliers including Salesforce, Oracle, and Workday). "If suppliers don't offer substantial discounts or bundle AI features into the base license... we essentially won't renew the contract," he explained, arguing that AI tools do not warrant additional fees.

Workday, a human resources software vendor, is one company rolling out incentives for key clients. The company says it launched a program this summer allowing top-tier customers to use its AI platform, Sana Enterprise, free of charge with unlimited usage for one year. Roughly 20 large enterprises are participating, with the platform's built-in AI agents automating HR and finance tasks such as employee onboarding. Workday's Chief Technology Officer, Gerrit Kazmaier, said on the company's late-August earnings call: "Our core focus right now is adoption, adoption, adoption." He added: "As for how that translates into sales and revenue, that's hard to answer right now—it's not our primary goal at this stage."

Pricing Becomes More Flexible

Meanwhile, Figma CEO Dylan Field said this month at the Goldman Sachs Technology Conference in San Francisco that the design software firm has cut the usage cost of its AI products by up to half. Figma switched to usage-based billing in March and announced in late August that users can now obtain additional call credits at the same cost beyond their subscription plan allowances. He said Figma's "primary goal" is to drive scale of usage rather than chase high profit margins on AI design automation tools like Figma Make.

Shayan Mohanty, Chief Data and AI Officer at technology consultancy Thoughtworks, says software vendors' pricing strategies have become noticeably more flexible over the past six months, aimed at stabilizing customers who are wavering in the face of expensive usage-based AI billing. Software-plus-AI bundles now commonly come with 30%–35% discounts, along with extended trial periods for new products. Previously, he said, such discounts were typically under 20%, and it was difficult for Thoughtworks and its clients to secure them.

FICO's Mike Turcotte also noted that dozens of FICO's software suppliers added AI capabilities for free during this year's renewals. Against the backdrop of pricing adjustments, vendors are becoming "more flexible" with customers. HubSpot is one example. The sales software firm's CEO, Yamini Rangan, said that starting in April, customers can trial its AI agents free for up to 30 days; HubSpot also switched to a billing model where, on top of subscription fees, it charges separately as AI agents complete tasks. The adjustment may seem modest, but it came at a cost: HubSpot's revenue growth slowed in the quarter ending in June.

Adobe, meanwhile, is offering free access to base versions of some AI products, with premium features priced separately. The company says the strategy has driven up usage of its AI image-and-text generation suite, Firefly. Yet executives acknowledged on this month's earnings call that the freemium approach has weighed on revenue backlog and annual recurring revenue growth.

Microsoft and Amazon Join the Fray

The discount wave is not limited to traditional software vendors. Microsoft and Amazon, the major cloud providers, are also refining their offerings to drive adoption of their own AI products. A Microsoft employee familiar with the adjustments revealed that, in addition to free credits and grace periods, the company has increased discounts on its Copilot AI software for enterprise clients in recent months. Copilot subscriptions are priced at USD 30 per user per month; enterprises using certain features like Copilot Cowork incur additional usage-based charges. To retain Copilot customers, Microsoft has recently stipulated that enterprises purchasing at least 2,000 seats can receive a 5%–10% discount per seat. The employee said such discounts previously applied only to mega-customers like KPMG and PwC that purchase hundreds of thousands of seats. The new discounts can save clients hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

AWS, beyond its cloud computing business, has long sought to expand its software sales. For the top-tier version of its AI code assistant, Kiro, AWS offered consulting firm Rhythmic Technologies—which helps enterprises deploy AWS—about four months of free access. Rhythmic co-founder Chris Daniluk said he declined the offer, as the company is already using Claude Code. "Clients have already chosen their tech stack; AWS wants to use discounts to grab market share," Daniluk said. Despite AWS's aggressive incentives, Rhythmic and most of its clients have not adopted Kiro, though the product does have supporters among developers. An AWS spokesperson said: "We want as many customers as possible to use our AI technology." The spokesperson also noted that the number of developers using Kiro doubled between the first and second quarters of 2026. Separately, a participant in the project revealed that AWS is finalizing a new program to fund select consulting partners in creating AI product demos and pilot projects for clients. The program could provide consultancies with up to USD 75,000 for client demos, with pilot project subsidies reaching roughly USD 400,000.