Anthropic pays engineers a higher median base salary — Anthropic at $403K vs OpenAI at $308K (a $95K gap), based on public job postings.
| Company | Median base (eng) | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | $403K | $310K–$455K |
| OpenAI | $308K | $250K–$400K |
See the full breakdown by role and seniority on each company's salary page: Anthropic · OpenAI.
Figures are base salary only, from public engineering job postings (2025–2026) — equity and bonus are separate and often a large share of total comp at these companies. Methodology: median of disclosed USD annual salary bands.
Hiring engineers who could work at either? Recruiting from Scratch places senior + AI talent at top labs. Talk to us →
For the latest engineering compensation benchmarks, levels.fyi and The Pragmatic Engineer are the most cited sources.
Related: Software Engineer Salary Guide: SF, NYC, and Remote (2026) · Data Engineer Salary Guide: SF, NYC, Remote (2026)If you are on the candidate side of these numbers: working with a recruiter costs you nothing (the employer pays the fee, and your offer is never reduced to cover it). Recruiting from Scratch places engineers at startups and high-growth companies, preps you before every interview, and negotiates your offer backed by the same salary data on this page.
Browse open engineering roles at startups and high-growth companies →
From our recruiting desk: Best Recruiting Firms for AI/ML Engineers · How to Work With a Tech Recruiter as a Candidate
Tell us about your open roles and we'll start sourcing within 48 hours.
