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GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

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Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#411

Post by solarmist »

phoghed wrote: post #398
conjecTech wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both can be true simultaneously. American companies were comfortable with a high cost structure because it padded their revenue numbers. The government tried to block out competitors through import/export controls, and it ended up backfiring by creating more efficient competitors. Very similar to our competition with Japan in the 80s. We'll see if we give the AI labs the kinds of sweetheart protectionism that US car…

Can you explain better how OpenAI, for example, would simultaneously subsidize tokens while overcharging for them? Not sure I get it.

As one example: Different access patterns. If you're using the app and have a subscription you get cheap tokens in the hopes you need more at which point you pay API prices which are much more expenseive.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#412

Post by pessimizer »

bigbluedots wrote: post #220

These threads seem to have become exceedingly vibes-based. Yes, something may now be cheaper or more expensive or whatever, but there is no way to objectively measure quality (except for "trust me bro" benchmarks). So the discourse is people saying that for them, this or that model was better - which is a very low value data point.

It's got to be because AI has become a commodity, people are looking to get the best value for money, and things change based on your specific application (which may be nearly unique) and literally the time of day.

It's a bunch of bread bakers talking about wheat suppliers.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#413

Post by gloryjulio »

pimeys wrote: post #278

The competition is real in pricing. Thanks for the Chinese open models, US big players have to cut their inference pricing. We've done a bunch of evals between the models, and Kimi K3 was the first one that actually could compete or be even better than Opus or Sol in our use cases, with a fraction of the price. All our developers use K3 as their programming model, and it now powers a big part of our systems instead o…

We know the price wars are coming. It's gonna be interesting to watch how it plays out in real time. Anthropic/Openai probably want to race to the IPO before the price wars start to have real impact.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#414

Post by lucassz »

senordevnyc wrote: post #341
fluoridation wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are subsidizing the non-API use cases and overcharging on the API use cases.

No, almost everyone has been in agreement that they’re subsidizing subscriptions, but there have literally been dozens (hundreds?) of threads on HN in the past 12 months with people vehemently arguing that API prices are subsidized.

Certainly not everyone. I find it far more likely that both subscriptions and API pricing are profitable in their own right. The fact that some people get great value out of their subscription (just like some people get great value out of their car insurance) doesn't mean it's subsidized.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#415

Post by no_no_no_yes »

gb2d_hn wrote: post #206
kelvinjps10 wrote: post #199

I have switched to Chagpt sub now after only using Claude for coding. You get more value for your money and feels like codex has reached Claude code performance in coding (the reason for using Claude) regular plus account allows you to have access to their most powerful model, image generation and asking questions is better because you can use sol but in instant mode and it feels smarter and faster. And finally codex…

I switched as I felt Codex was on a par with Opus, but the chat responses from Sol are just more intelligible than the word soup I've been getting from Opus. I wonder if Opus could be prompted to respond in simpler prose via agents.md

Yes it can, it's called "output style" under `/config`:

```

This changes how Claude Code communicates with you

  1. Default     Claude completes coding tasks efficiently and provides concise responses

  2. Proactive    Claude executes immediately, minimizes interruptions, and prefers action over planning

  3. Explanatory  Claude explains its implementation choices and codebase patterns

  4. Learning     Claude pauses and asks you to write small pieces of code for hands-on practice
```

You can set up a custom one under `vi ~/.claude/output-styles/eli5.md` and `eli5` would show up in the list above:

```

---

name: ELI5

description: keep it simple please

keep-coding-instructions: true

---

I can't process lengthy text, talk to me like I'm 5.

Small words, short sentences, short paragraphs. If you have to use a big word, explain it right after. Only return what's actually necessary. Just tell me what you did, did it work, what do I do now.

If I have to decide something: show 3 options max, the context I need to pick fast, and which one you'd go with.

Keep paths and commands exact. I have no brain cells left for the rest.

```

I'm not sure if it's a good thing that there's a config option for this, it kinda means they know there's issues with verbosity.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#416

Post by square_usual »

phoghed wrote: post #398
conjecTech wrote: post #394

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both can be true simultaneously. American companies were comfortable with a high cost structure because it padded their revenue numbers. The government tried to block out competitors through import/export controls, and it ended up backfiring by creating more efficient competitors. Very similar to our competition with Japan in the 80s. We'll see if we give the AI labs the kinds of sweetheart protectionism that US car…

Can you explain better how OpenAI, for example, would simultaneously subsidize tokens while overcharging for them? Not sure I get it.

It's simple, they aren't subsidizing tokens at all.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#417

Post by pfisch »

conjecTech wrote: post #394
miki123211 wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how quickly we went from "the greedy US companies are subsidizing prices to keep competitors out of the market" to "the greedy US companies are overcharging because they are greedy."

Both can be true simultaneously. American companies were comfortable with a high cost structure because it padded their revenue numbers. The government tried to block out competitors through import/export controls, and it ended up backfiring by creating more efficient competitors. Very similar to our competition with Japan in the 80s. We'll see if we give the AI labs the kinds of sweetheart protectionism that US car…

I don't think that kind of protectionism will work with a digital asset. It is much more difficult to erect barriers when there are no physical goods and transportation across geographic borders is instant and free.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#418

Post by phoghed »

solarmist wrote: post #411
phoghed wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain better how OpenAI, for example, would simultaneously subsidize tokens while overcharging for them? Not sure I get it.

As one example: Different access patterns. If you're using the app and have a subscription you get cheap tokens in the hopes you need more at which point you pay API prices which are much more expenseive.

I agree with that. However, there’s much dialogue around subsidized tokens for business use too, that people paying for the tokens are also vastly underpaying vs the “real” cost. I certainly don’t know the answer to that. Maybe the Chinese companies are also doing it. Maybe nobody is doing it.

Looking at reserved capacity cost for PTUs on azure, which I think they’d probably not subsidize but can’t be sure, I’m inclined to not agree with the vast undercharging for tokens hypothesis.

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#419

Post by wonnage »

jchw wrote: post #346
wonnage wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI-pilled obsession with "taste" is bordering on insanity It's just vibes

It's easy to dismiss "taste" when you either have none or just fail to appreciate it, but nothing gives you an appreciation for the importance of taste like LLMs. There is no benchmark for taste, so while many things improve taste does not. Bad taste is, in fact, a huge component of what makes AI slop so sloppy. But human coders can have bad taste too. There is code where there is nothing obviously objectively wrong,…

Thinking the giant array of GPUs has “taste” is exactly the problem

Re: GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% on OpenRouter

#420

Post by Der_Einzige »

square_usual wrote: post #416
phoghed wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain better how OpenAI, for example, would simultaneously subsidize tokens while overcharging for them? Not sure I get it.

It's simple, they aren't subsidizing tokens at all.

True for api pricing across the industry. Not as true for 200$ a month plans assuming you used every bit of it.
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