Models are both becoming much more useful, and pricier. Anthropic was the expensive but very good model, then OpenAI increased prices for their best models, now Google is increasing pricing. Not a little, think 3X increases. This represents demand and somewhat limited supply: the latest models are so good at coding (agent tasks) that demand is through the roof, and paying $200/month, or much more expensive API pricing, doesn't seem too crazy. This also gives the labs a strong lever to keep you in their ecosystem - use their own tools, and you can use a subsidized subscription model.
# May 20, 2026