Definition
Competitive positioning where a near-frontier model is sold at substantially lower token prices than the lab’s top model (e.g., Opus 5 near Fable 5 at half price).
Key Points
- July 2026: Anthropic prices Opus 5 at 25 per MTok — same as Opus 4.8, half of Fable 5 framing
- Reflects enterprise ROI pressure and competition from cheaper rivals
- Fast mode often sold at 2× base price for ~2.5× speed