Claude Code Makes Sonnet 5's Introductory Pricing Permanent
Claude CodeClaude Code's /model picker and its bundled claude-api skill now show Claude Sonnet 5's $2-per-million-input / $10-per-million-output token pricing as the standard list price rather than a limited-time promotion. Anthropic had originally introduced that rate in June 2026 as a promo running through August 31, with a published increase to $3/$15 planned for September 1; the company canceled that increase and made the lower rate permanent. The update in Claude Code 2.1.243 brings the CLI's own pricing displays in line with that decision.
Key Takeaways
- The planned price increase was canceled: Sonnet 5 was scheduled to rise from $2/$10 to $3/$15 per million tokens on September 1, 2026, and that increase will not happen.
- Claude Code's own pricing displays now reflect the change, with the
/modelpicker and the bundledclaude-apiskill showing $2/$10 as standard, not promotional. - No end date is attached to the current rate, unlike the original June 2026 introductory pricing.
- The reversal keeps cost estimates accurate in
/cost, the status line, and telemetry cost figures inside Claude Code. - Community reaction to the pricing decision was mixed, with some developers comparing Sonnet 5's cost-per-task unfavorably to newer competing models despite the frozen rate.
- This is a platform-wide pricing decision surfaced through Claude Code's tooling rather than a Claude Code-specific feature.
Sources & Mentions
3 external resources covering this update
Standard Pricing, Not a Promo
Claude Code's /model picker previously flagged Claude Sonnet 5's $2-per-million-input and $10-per-million-output token rates as limited-time introductory pricing, with a scheduled jump to $3 and $15 on September 1, 2026. That increase has been canceled. Anthropic confirmed the $2/$10 rate is now the standard, ongoing price for Sonnet 5, with no end date attached, and Claude Code 2.1.243 updates the CLI's pricing displays and its bundled claude-api skill to reflect that.
What Changed in the CLI
Two Claude Code surfaces read directly from this pricing: the /model picker, which now lists Sonnet 5's rate as its standard price instead of a countdown offer, and the bundled claude-api skill's reference material, which developers rely on when writing code against the Anthropic API. Both previously described the $2/$10 rate as promotional; both now describe it as the ongoing price.
Why Anthropic Reversed the Planned Increase
Sonnet 5 launched in June 2026 at the discounted rate to compete on cost against rival models. Anthropic's decision to make that rate permanent, rather than letting it lapse into the higher published price, keeps Sonnet 5's cost profile unchanged for every workload built against it, from /cost estimates in Claude Code to production API integrations. For teams that budgeted around the announced September increase, the change means no adjustment is needed.
This pricing update landed alongside a large set of reliability, performance, and UX fixes in Claude Code 2.1.243, released August 24, 2026.