THE 60-SECOND VERSION
● Today: Sonnet 5 goes $3/$15 with a tokenizer change, GPT-5.4 leaves Codex for sign-in users, kimi-k2.5 and moonshot-v1 sunset.
● Claude Code limits: 25 percent up on the old baseline, 17 percent down on today, from 14 September.
● Anthropic deleted its first post and reposted with the 17 percent figure stated plainly.
Three changes land today
Claude Sonnet 5 API pricing rises from $2 and $10 per million to $3 and $15, with a tokenizer change alongside that adds 10 to 35 percent more tokens on code — so a coding workload can land well above the headline 50 percent. Consumer subscriptions are unaffected.
GPT-5.4 and GPT-5.4 mini leave Codex for anyone signed in with a ChatGPT account, replaced by GPT-5.6 Terra and Luna. Both remain available through the API and in Codex sessions authenticated with an API key rather than a login.
And kimi-k2.5 and moonshot-v1 sunset, with kimi-k3 as the migration target.
The full checklist, including the tokenizer maths →
Anthropic corrects its own framing
On 29 August, Anthropic announced it will permanently raise Claude Code weekly limits by 25 percent from 14 September, with the current 50 percent boost holding until the 13th.
Index the levels and the picture is clearer: the pre-May baseline is 100, today is 150, and September is 125. So the change is 25 percent above the old standard and 17 percent below what subscribers have now.
Users calculated that publicly within hours. Anthropic then deleted its original post and reposted a clarification stating that compared to today, this works out to a 17 percent reduction — which is a company correcting its framing rather than defending it.
The full arithmetic and what to check before 14 September →
The pattern across the month
Sonnet 5 rises today. OpenAI restored a strict five-hour limit on Codex and Work tools last week. Claude Code weekly capacity settles below where it has been all summer. GPT-5.6 Sol's $4 and $20 is promotional and reverts around 21 November.
The period where frontier-model access was priced to acquire users is ending, and flat-rate subscriptions are being calibrated against what compute costs. That is not a complaint — it was always going to happen — but it does mean any budget built on 2026 promotional rates needs rechecking.
Coming up
| Date |
What happens |
| Early-mid Sept |
Grok 4.7 window per Musk. Still no model ID at docs.x.ai |
| Sept 14 |
Claude Code permanent weekly limits take effect, 50 percent boost ends |
| Oct 1 |
OpenAI vs Apple hearing |
| Oct 24 |
deepseek-chat and deepseek-reasoner deprecated |
| Nov 12 |
OpenAI models leave Cursor following the SpaceX acquisition |
| ~Nov 21 |
GPT-5.6 Sol promotional pricing ends, $4/$20 back to $5/$30 |
Still open
- The DALL·E GPT retired yesterday. Image generation continues through ChatGPT Images, and custom GPTs are unaffected. What changed →
- The Pentagon blacklist of Anthropic was struck down as unlawful retaliation, with a second case still live in Washington. What the ruling found →
- Agent authorisation standards are converging across Google, NIST and a Senate bill while the capability already ships. What to build now →
FAQ
What changed on 31 August 2026?
Claude Sonnet 5 API pricing rose to $3 and $15 per million with a tokenizer change alongside, GPT-5.4 and GPT-5.4 mini left Codex for ChatGPT sign-in users, and kimi-k2.5 and moonshot-v1 sunset.
Are Claude Code limits going up or down?
Up 25 percent against the pre-May baseline, down 17 percent against what subscribers have today. The change takes effect 14 September, not 31 August.
Did Anthropic admit the reduction?
Yes. It deleted its original announcement and reposted stating that compared to today the change works out to a 17 percent reduction.
Does the Sonnet 5 rise affect Claude Pro?
No. Consumer subscriptions are unaffected. This is API pricing.