Yea if i use opus 5.5 in api through openrouter and pi agent harness I will easily burn 50-100$ a day (and with fable 5.1 i could burn 200$ easily). Whereas i have now been using a claude code subscription for 2 weeks using 5.5 at all times and have never hit a limit. I often run 6+ agent sessions at once.

I do think its important long term to not be reliant on these companies as you don't have control over the system prompts, the thinking tokens, and once the subsidization stops or the company is public they will be required to start making money and thus raise prices.

But models may get more intelligent and cheaper once that time comes so it may be a non issue.