Claude Sonnet 5's "Introductory" Pricing Becomes Permanent

Claude Sonnet 5 launched June 30, 2026 at $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens, explicitly labeled as introductory pricing set to rise to $3/$15 on September 1, 2026. On August 10, 2026, Anthropic reversed course: per a note on its official pricing page, "the previously scheduled increase to $3/$15 per million input/output tokens on September 1, 2026 will not occur." The $2/$10 rate is now the standard, permanent price.

After the reversal, Claude Sonnet 4.6, the generation Sonnet 5 replaced as the default free/Pro model on claude.ai, still costs $3/$15 - meaning the newer model is now priced below the one it superseded.

Anthropic has not published a reason for the reversal. Sonnet 5 remains positioned as "the best combination of speed and intelligence" in the current four-model lineup, alongside Claude Fable 5, Claude Opus 5, and Claude Haiku 4.5.