Anthropic Gives US Governments 40% Off Claude Under a New GSA OneGov Deal, Moving From $1-Per-User Seats to Pay-Per-Token Pricing

Anthropic's new government deal swaps a nominal price for a metered one, and, according to Nextgov, it follows a similar token-based deal OpenAI reached weeks earlier. The US General Services Administration (GSA) said on October 27 that it had expanded its OneGov agreement with Anthropic to give government buyers a 40% discount on token-based use of Claude models, with no minimum purchase. Anthropic estimates the discounts will save the government $1 billion.

The terms#

GSA says the discount covers token-based usage across Claude models available to the government, including FedRAMP-authorized environments for sensitive unclassified work. Agencies pay only for what they use. Eligibility covers federal executive, legislative and judicial bodies as well as state, local and tribal governments, buying directly, through resellers or on major cloud platforms, GSA says.

Anthropic says the discount applies to Claude Enterprise, Claude for Government and the Claude API, and that for the first time it covers every product surface: direct purchases now, and purchases through cloud providers "in the coming months." Anthropic's post also names territorial governments. Agencies can buy at the OneGov discount through GSA's Multiple Award Schedule, Anthropic says.

GSA framed the deal as part of the government's shift "from evaluating advanced super intelligence capabilities to applying them in daily mission work," and said OneGov has generated more than $1.8 billion in savings since it began, including about $1.6 billion through what it calls "super intelligence agreements." Nextgov describes those as AI agreements.

From $1 seats to tokens#

The announcement comes days before an earlier Claude OneGov deal expires on October 31, Nextgov reports. Under that agreement, federal agencies have had access to Claude for Enterprise and Government for $1 per user.

OpenAI reached a similar deal with GSA, a 50% discount on token-based usage under a 27-month OneGov agreement that took effect at the start of October, according to Nextgov. Nextgov also reports that the Department of Health and Human Services announced last week its intent to award a sole-source contract for Claude models.

Anthropic's standing with GSA was in doubt this spring: in April, GSA restored Anthropic's products to federal purchasing channels after a court's preliminary injunction blocked agencies from enforcing a presidential directive to stop using Anthropic's tools.

Usage figures#

Anthropic says about 500 US federal, state and local government organisations use Claude, that weekly active users of Claude for Government are up about eightfold since February, and that usage across federal civilian agencies has grown about 20-fold in a year. It says Claude for Government, authorized at FedRAMP High, became generally available on September 30, and that Claude Enterprise is in process for FedRAMP Moderate authorization through the FedRAMP 20x program.

Limits#

• Neither GSA nor Anthropic published list prices, so the dollar cost per token after the discount is not stated.
• The $1 billion savings figure is Anthropic's estimate; neither company explained how it was calculated.
• The usage growth figures are Anthropic's own and were not independently verified.
• The comparison with OpenAI's 50% discount comes from Nextgov; we did not read GSA's release on the OpenAI deal, and the two discounts may apply to different list prices.

Sources#

• GSA: GSA, Anthropic Reach OneGov Agreement on Discounted, Consumption-Based Pricing for Claude (October 27, 2026)
• Anthropic: Expanding our partnership with GSA to bring Claude to all levels of government (October 27, 2026)
• Nextgov/FCW: GSA unveils token-based OneGov pricing for Claude (October 27, 2026)
• Times of AI: GSA Restores Anthropic After NDCA Injunction Pauses Federal Ban (April 3, 2026)