--- title: "Asana's AI just got 90% cheaper to run, and so did every rival's" description: "Anthropic cut token prices as much as 90% and named Asana the showcase customer; ASAN gained 16.8% in a week. The saving lands on Asana's cost line, and its competitors can buy the identical discount." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Platforms" published: 2026-10-10T21:21:38.843Z modified: 2026-10-10T21:21:38.843Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/asana-s-ai-just-got-90-cheaper-to-run-and-so-did-every-rival-s language: en keywords: "Anthropic, Asana, AI Pricing, SaaS, Gross Margin, Agentic AI" --- # Asana's AI just got 90% cheaper to run, and so did every rival's > Anthropic cut token prices as much as 90% and named Asana the showcase customer; ASAN gained 16.8% in a week. The saving lands on Asana's cost line, and its competitors can buy the identical discount. ## A dime per million tokens When [Anthropic](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/anthropic) [launched Claude Haiku 5.5 on October 7](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-anthropic-claude-haiku-5-5-api-pricing/), it [put an Asana engineer on the receipt](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/asana). Staff engineer Aaron Vinh reported task completions running more than 30% faster and inference up to 2.5 times quicker per agent turn [1]. The rent under [Asana](https://asana.com/pricing)'s agents collapsed with him: for requests under 100,000 tokens, input now costs $0.10 per million and output $0.50, down from $1 and $5 for the prior Haiku, an average cost drop Anthropic puts near 75% [1][2]. Anthropic [frames such customer results as evaluation leads, not guaranteed outcomes](https://www.ainvest.com/news/asana-model-cost-headline-margin-story-wearing-growth-clothes-2610/) [3]. ASAN [closed at $8.62 on October 2 and $10.07 on October 9](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/ASAN/), up 16.8% on the week [4][5]. *Chart: **Haiku 5.5 cut both input and output token prices by 90%** Column chart comparing Claude Haiku 4.5 and Haiku 5.5 API prices per million tokens, input falling from $1.00 to $0.10 and output from $5.00 to $0.50.* *API prices per million tokens for requests under 100,000 tokens. Sources: TechRepublic; Investing.com via Yahoo Finance. [1][2]* ## Fifty cents a request, and the meter is live The cut lands mid-pivot. [Asana's live pricing](https://asana.com/pricing) bundles 5 AI Teammate requests per user per month, capped at 50 to 250 per account, plus 50,000 to 200,000 AI Studio credits per account each month; requests past that cost $0.50 prepaid and $0.60 on demand [6]. Chief Financial Officer Aziz Megji: "the new Asana is really around both seats and subscriptions and consumption and outcomes" [7]. [AI products drove 25% of net new ARR in the July quarter](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/asana-unveils-agentic-management-ai-110204467.html), up from 17% in Q1, and the full-year target rose to 20% [7]. *Chart: **AI products went from a sixth to a quarter of Asana's net new ARR in one quarter** Column chart of AI products' share of Asana net new ARR, 17% in Q1 fiscal 2027, 25% in Q2 and a 20% full-year target.* *AI products' share of net new annual recurring revenue; the 20% figure is management's raised full-year target. Source: Asana earnings commentary via MarketBeat. [7]* ## The margin bleed cheap tokens must stop The pivot is not free. [Q2 revenue was $216.4 million, up 10%](https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/asana-announces-second-quarter-fiscal-2027-results-2026-09-03), but cost of revenues jumped 50% to $30.3 million, and GAAP gross margin fell to 86.0% from 89.7% a year earlier [8]. Management [blames AI compute and infrastructure plus the lower-margin StackAI acquisition](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/asan-q2-deep-dive-ai-210210374.html) [9]. That is the fourth straight quarterly decline. *Chart: **Asana's gross margin has fallen four straight quarters as AI costs land** Line chart of Asana's GAAP gross margin by quarter from Q1 2024 to Q2 2026, declining from 89.7% to 86.0%, with the slide beginning in Q3 2025.* *GAAP gross margin, percent of revenue, by calendar quarter; Q2 '26 is Asana's fiscal Q2 2027, ended July 31, 2026. Sources: Asana quarterly SEC filings; Q2 figures per the September 3, 2026, press release. [10][8]* ## The same discount arms the competition None of the cut belongs to Asana. It is public API pricing, and in a crowded field that includes [monday.com](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/monday-com) and [Notion](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/notion), every AI buyer gets the same deflation: whatever Asana saves, a competitor with the same bill saves too, which tends to surface as cheaper software rather than wider moats [3]. Asana has lifted its full-year operating margin target to 10%, from 9.5% where the year began [7]. ## December 2 is the first reading The next report, estimated for December 2, is the first test of whether a dime-per-million engine fattens gross margin or merely arms a cheaper list price [5]. [Wall Street stays at Hold, average target $9.95](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/asana-stock-gets-a-buy-upgrade-as-consensus-stays-hold/70230887), a shade under the October 9 close [4][5]. Asana sells an AI request for fifty cents; the engine underneath just fell to a dime per million tokens. Which side of that spread keeps the money is what December has to answer. ## Takeaway Anthropic's Haiku 5.5 cuts Asana's AI inference bill up to 90% and the stock jumped 16.8% on it, but the discount is public API pricing every rival can buy; the December 2 report is the first test of whether cheaper tokens widen Asana's margins or just arm cheaper list prices. ## Sources 1. [TechRepublic, "Anthropic Launches Claude Haiku 5.5 With API Prices Starting at $0.10", 9 October 2026](https://www.techrepublic.com/article/news-anthropic-claude-haiku-5-5-api-pricing/) 2. [Investing.com via Yahoo Finance, "Anthropic expands AI model suite with low-cost, high-speed Haiku 5.5 launch", 7 October 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/anthropic-expands-ai-model-suite-202855087.html) 3. [AInvest, "Asana's model-cost headline is a margin story wearing growth clothes", 9 October 2026](https://www.ainvest.com/news/asana-model-cost-headline-margin-story-wearing-growth-clothes-2610/) 4. [AD HOC NEWS, "Asana stock gets a Buy upgrade as consensus stays Hold", 5 October 2026](https://www.ad-hoc-news.de/boerse/news/corporate-news/asana-stock-gets-a-buy-upgrade-as-consensus-stays-hold/70230887) 5. [Yahoo Finance UK, "Asana, Inc. (ASAN) stock price, news, quote and history", 10 October 2026](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/quote/ASAN/) 6. [Asana, "Asana Pricing: Personal, Starter, Advanced and Enterprise plans", retrieved 10 October 2026](https://asana.com/pricing) 7. [MarketBeat via Yahoo Finance, "Asana Unveils Agentic Work Management as AI Fuels Retention and ARR Growth", 21 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/asana-unveils-agentic-management-ai-110204467.html) 8. [Asana press release via Nasdaq, "Asana Announces Second Quarter Fiscal 2027 Results", 3 September 2026](https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/asana-announces-second-quarter-fiscal-2027-results-2026-09-03) 9. [StockStory via Yahoo Finance, "ASAN Q2 Deep Dive: AI Product Expansion Drives Growth Amid Retention and PLG Headwinds", 4 September 2026](https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/asan-q2-deep-dive-ai-210210374.html) 10. [Asana quarterly figures from its SEC filings, retrieved 10 October 2026](https://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0001477720) --- Asana's AI just got 90% cheaper to run, and so did every rival's — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/asana-s-ai-just-got-90-cheaper-to-run-and-so-did-every-rival-s