A cheaper model bills more per task by reasoning more

Claim

Claude Sonnet 5 nears Opus 4.8 at introductory prices of $2 and $10 per million tokens, though analysts note it runs cheaper by the token yet pricier by the task, burning enough extra reasoning to outbill Opus anyway.

Reported metric: $2 / $10 per Mtok

Reporting date: 2026-07-01 (not necessarily the event date)

Sources

Attribution and reporting linked by this record; links do not imply independent verification.

• Welcome to July 1, 2026 (theinnermostloop.substack.com)