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AI Pricing Battle Intensifies as Anthropic and OpenAI Cut Costs with New Models

Anthropic and OpenAI have launched cheaper AI models as competition intensifies, highlighting lower costs alongside improvements in performance, factuality and capabilities.
OpenAI and Anthropic logos representing the two AI companies.
September 24, 2026 05:42 AM IST | Written by Supriya Singh | Edited by Pratima O Pareek

Anthropic has introduced Claude Opus 5.5, saying it costs 40% less to run on typical workloads than Opus 5 and requires less compute to serve. It is the first release in Anthropic’s new Claude 5.5 family, with Claude Sonnet 5.5 and Claude Haiku 5.5 expected in the coming weeks.

Anthropic and OpenAI cut prices while continuing to push improvements in performance and capabilities. The moves come amid growing debate over a potential AI slowdown and rising pressure from Chinese AI models.

According to Anthropic, Opus 5.5 performs at the level of Claude Fable 5.1 on most work while costing 40% less to run on typical workloads than Opus 5.

Anthropic said Opus 5.5 requires less compute to serve than Opus 5.

The model costs $4 per million input tokens and $20 per million output tokens, compared with $5 and $25 for Opus 5, a 20% reduction in input and output pricing. Cache reads cost $0.20 per million tokens, down 60% from Opus 5.

Anthropic said Opus 5.5 is comparable to Claude Mythos 5.1 in biology and cybersecurity and is being deployed with safeguards similar to those used for Claude Fable 5.1.

OpenAI introduced GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, expanding its GPT-6 family beyond GPT-6 Astra. The company said the models were trained using methods similar to Astra, bringing advances in professional work, factuality, coding, computer use and alignment to lower-cost models.

“Improvements in caching and inference let us serve these models at lower cost,” OpenAI said, adding that API prices for Sol and Luna were cut by 50% compared with GPT-5.6 promotional pricing.

GPT-6 Sol costs $2 per million input tokens and $10 per million output tokens, compared with $4 and $20 for GPT-5.6 Sol. GPT-6 Luna costs $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.50 per million output tokens, compared with $0.20 and $1.20 for GPT-5.6 Luna.

OpenAI said GPT-6 Sol makes about half as many mistakes as GPT-5.6 Sol, approaching GPT-6 Astra-level reliability at a much lower cost.

GPT-6 Luna also improves substantially, with OpenAI saying that at higher effort levels it matches GPT-5.6 Sol at about one-hundredth the cost.

Also Read: No OpenAI IPO in 2026; What Happens to Anthropic’s IPO?

Authors

  • AI FrontPage Reporter Supriya Singh

    Supriya Singh is a Reporter at AI FrontPage covering the AI & Education and AI & Jobs beats. She brings six years of print and digital experience, including three years at The Asian Age, where she reported on higher education, Delhi government, and crime. She is based in Delhi-NCR.

    LinkedIn
  • Pratima Pareek, Editor and Co-founder of AI FrontPage

    Pratima O Pareek is an Editor and Co-Founder of AI FrontPage. A gold medalist in Mass Communication and Journalism, she's worked across national and international newsrooms, bringing sharp editorial instincts and a commitment to clarity. She believes in cutting through the noise to deliver stories that actually matter.
    Off the clock, she watches offbeat cinema, follows tennis, and explores new places like a traveler, not a tourist.

    LinkedIn

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