OpenAI Discounts Spark Massive Usage Surge, With Luna Jumping 13.8x and Nearly a Third of New Users Sticking Around After Deals Expire

OpenAI's limited-time discounts on its Terra and Luna models trigger explosive usage growth — Luna surging 13.8x — while stealing market share from rival AI labs, and nearly a third of new users keep paying full price after the deals expire.

• OpenAI's discounts on Terra and Luna models from July 27 to August 14 trigger massive token usage spikes, with Terra rising 5.6x and Luna jumping 13.8x compared to pre-discount daily averages.
• The discounts reshape competitive dynamics on OpenRouter, pushing Terra and Luna's combined token share from 0.7% to 7.8%, with roughly three-quarters of those gains coming at the expense of rival AI labs rather than other OpenAI models.
• User retention following the discount period proves significant, as approximately 32% of the 100K+ customers who used Terra or Luna during the program continue using those models after discounts expire, with retained accounts showing post-program token volumes 1.38x higher than during the discount window.