Simulating realistic AI coding assistant parameters (12,000 in / 2,000 out with 60% cache reuse). Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) delivers a 66% cost reduction over o3 (Reasoning Frontier).
| Traffic Volume Tier | o3 (Reasoning Frontier) Monthly | Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) Monthly | Monthly Savings by picking Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 reqs/mo (Dev/Testing) | $135.20 | $46.56 | Save $88.64 / mo |
| 10,000 reqs/mo (Small App) | $1,352.00 | $465.60 | Save $886.40 / mo |
| 100,000 reqs/mo (Growth Production) | $13,520.00 | $4,656.00 | Save $8,864.00 / mo |
| 1,000,000 reqs/mo (Scale SaaS) | $135,200.00 | $46,560.00 | Save $88,640.00 / mo |
Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) is 66% cheaper for AI coding assistant workloads. At standard AI coding assistant parameter ratios (12,000 input tokens, 2,000 output tokens, 60% cache hit), Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) costs $0.0466 per request compared to $0.1352 on o3 (Reasoning Frontier).
o3 (Reasoning Frontier) offers a context window of 1,050,000 tokens (max output: 128,000), while Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) offers 1,000,000 tokens (max output: 128,000).
At 100,000 requests per month, using Claude Sonnet 4.6 (OpenRouter) saves $8,864.00 every month (or $106,368.00 annually) compared to o3 (Reasoning Frontier).
Output is the expensive side — prefer models with cheap output for autocomplete-style calls. Cache repository context between keystrokes; diffs change far less than the full file. Measure acceptance rate: paying for output users delete is pure waste.