It was made available in my subscription so I tested it out. I'm glad I tested it in a subscription, since I'd be pretty irritated if I had spent that amount of money accidentally in API usage. I guess what I've learned is what I already know, which is that the newer models seem to increase costs a lot with no perceptible benefit to my workflow.
Wait, so it didn't cost you $153? Are you just extrapolating based on what it would have cost in API usage?
I said "cost", not "cost me". I use `ccusage` to track what my unsubsidized token spend would be since I'm sure these subscriptions won't stick around forever and I want to have a realistic idea of what these things actually cost in a professional setting.
To be fair though, even if it's not costing me that much it's evidently costing Anthropic a pretty penny, I'm up to like $800 in spend on my $200 subscription in less than a week.
What makes you think the API based cost is the cost to Anthropic?
Well, they're selling a non-essential commodity in a highly competitive industry with about zero lock in or customer loyalty, using the standard VC playbook of "capture the market then worry about costs". I don't see space for large margins in there, and if there are margins they're probably recent because of the IPO.