Token-based pricing was invented by OpenAI — it may not exist in 2 years
NoSecond8807 · reddit · 2026-08-22
The author argues that token-based pricing is not a natural law but a mechanic OpenAI made up fairly recently that the industry copied. It carries real problems:
- Different models consume/produce vastly different token counts for the same compute input
- Different hardware has different energy efficiency for the same output
- Different energy sources mean different input costs
Token pricing masks all of this, making it hard for consumers to judge value for money — which is exactly why foundation model providers like licensing by the token. But since nothing mandates this model, alternatives like Neuralwatt with totally different pricing are gaining traction. The takeaway: don't bet the farm on anything in this fast-moving space, including whether token math exists at all in a few years.
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