One huge problem with these "cheap" models is that they happen to be more expensive in the typical agent workflow if the provider does not support caching.
Input and output costs are peanuts compared to the order of magnitude(or more) amount of tokens that hit the cache.
At that point you might as well use GPT-5. It will be the same price or cheaper, and more capable.
Input and output costs are peanuts compared to the order of magnitude(or more) amount of tokens that hit the cache.
At that point you might as well use GPT-5. It will be the same price or cheaper, and more capable.