Don't Just Look at Token Cost for Models
rwang07 · x · 2026-07-11
A recurring point highlighted in a podcast is that when evaluating models, the key isn't the cost per token, but the total cost to solve a given problem.
The post summarizes several guests' perspectives:
- Jason Calacanis solved a problem in 20 minutes using a frontier model that took him 10 hours to solve with open-source models, and at a lower total cost.
- Dylan Patel believes Anthropic's edge lies in token efficiency, not just the per-token price.
- Jensen Huang emphasized that cheap and fast models enable quicker iteration, ultimately leading to better answers.
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