- New AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic announced this week claim to be around 50% cheaper than previous versions.
- In-house testing from both companies show that the new models outperform predecessors, displaying improved results, higher safety, and more efficient token usage.
- China’s cheaper AI models still pose a threat, offering more cost effective options to businesses
Both OpenAI and Anthropic have this week revealed cheaper AI models, as competition heats up in the market, especially from Chinese models such as Alibaba and Deepseek.
The new models are claimed to be around 50% cheaper than previous versions, with both companies aiming to offer solutions that are more token efficient.
With the price of using AI on the rise for US businesses, and the threat of ‘Tokenmaxxing‘ burning through AI budgets, the move will be a welcome one for many.
OpenAI launches GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna
Hot on the heels of its Astra model earlier in the month, OpenAI announced the addition of two new models, GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna, designed to be budget-friendly options.
The secret to the lower cost, according to OpenAI, is that these models are more efficient to run than previously, and as a result they’ve been able to set the price accordingly. As noted in the press release for the new models: “Improvements in caching and inference let us serve these models at lower cost, and we’re passing those savings directly on to users.”
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According to OpenAI’s own benchmarking, GPT-6 Sol outperforms Claude Opus 5 at 9% of Opus 5’s cost per task. GPT-6 Luna goes even further, with an apparent 58% lower cost per task than its predecessor.
Factual error rates have also reportedly been improved. GPT-6 Sol makes ‘about half as many mistakes’ as its predecessor, which OpenAI puts a near Astra-level reliability, but at a much lower cost.
GPT‑6 Sol and GPT‑6 Luna are out now in ChatGPT Work and Codex, available to Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, and Edu users.
Anthropic launches Claude Opus 5.5
Not to be outdone, Anthropic revealed its cheaper model on the very same day as the OpenAI announcement, with Claude Opus 5.5.
There are a range of improvements with the model, but undoubtedly the headline is that it’s 40% cheaper than its predecessor, marking a potentially massive saving for heavy users. Tokens cost less, and the model also requires fewer tokens per task.
In its own tests, Anthropic claim huge improvements over Opus 5. It reports that testers were able to build working games with just one prompt, and that another completed a 680,000-line code migration in a day, using the model. Another test saw Opus 5.5 tasked with reducing load times across a web app, and it was successful in 39 out of 40 instances, while the previous model made smaller improvements that ‘altered the app’s behavior’.
Safety, something of a hot topic right now, has also improved, with Anthropic claiming the new model is much less likely to deviate from instruction, or make ‘hard to reverse’ choices.
Claude Opus 5.5 is available now.
Threat from Chinese competition
The announcement of these low cost AI models from Anthropic and OpenAI seems to be a reaction to overseas competition, which is moving at a breakneck speed in a bid for AI dominance. China is at the forefront, with models such as Deepseek and Alibaba offering highly capable tools at a fraction of the cost of US models.
The rivalry between China and the US as both seek AI dominance is also generating safety concerns, with President Trump meeting China’s president Xi Jinping this week in Washington. The main topic of conversation is likely to be how to keep up the AI development pace safely without the need to slow down, something which many in the AI industry have called for.
The introduction of these lower cost models will be good news for businesses that are using AI heavily on a daily basis, but does it go far enough to stop users jumping ship and moving to even cheaper foreign models?
