Why it matters
For teams routing work across model tiers, a Sonnet that lands near Opus 4.8 resets the default. Reaching for the flagship on every call gets harder to justify once the mid-tier handles most agentic work at Sonnet prices.
Tokenmaxxing read
Watch the fine print: Anthropic's updated tokenizer maps the same text to roughly 1.0-1.35x more tokens than before. A lower per-token sticker can be partly eaten by higher token counts, so re-measure spend on your own prompts before assuming Sonnet 5 is cheaper per task.
Source takeaway
Anthropic pitches Sonnet 5 as its most autonomous Sonnet to date, able to plan and drive tools such as browsers and terminals by itself, with the introductory rate held through Aug 31 before standard $3/$15 pricing takes over.
