Week 33 Briefing: AI Pricing Updates: August 10 - August 16, 2026

Two verified API pricing changes this week. DeepSeek raised rates and added peak pricing. Anthropic cancelled Sonnet 5's scheduled increase.

Your Wallet This Week

#1DeepSeek V4: A 1M cache-miss input plus 1M output workload rose from $0.42 to $0.88 off-peak or $1.76 peak on Flash; Pro rose from $1.305 to $2.64 off-peak or $5.28 peak.
#2Claude Sonnet 5: Anthropic made $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens permanent. The planned September rate of $3 / $15 was cancelled.
#3Suno plan limits: From September 3, Pro drops from unlimited downloads to 20 songs/month; Premier drops to 60 songs/month. Prices stay $10 and $30 monthly.

Price Change Summary

Swipe horizontally to compare every column.

Tool	What Changed	Was	Now	Impact	Who It Affects
DeepSeek V4 Flash	Peak and off-peak API rates replaced one flat rate	$0.0028 / $0.14 / $0.28	Off $0.007 / $0.22 / $0.66 Peak $0.014 / $0.44 / $1.32	Cost Up	DeepSeek API users
DeepSeek V4 Pro	Peak and off-peak API rates replaced one flat rate	$0.003625 / $0.435 / $0.87	Off $0.022 / $0.66 / $1.98 Peak $0.044 / $1.32 / $3.96	Cost Up	Agent and reasoning workloads
Claude Sonnet 5	Scheduled September API increase cancelled	Planned $3 / $15	Permanent $2 / $10	Increase Avoided	Claude API users
Suno Pro downloads	Download allowance reduced	Unlimited	20 songs/month from Sep 3	Limit Down	Pro subscribers
Suno Premier downloads	Download allowance reduced	Unlimited	60 songs/month from Sep 3	Limit Down	Premier subscribers

Week 32: Opus 4.1 retirement and ChatGPT access · Week 31: OpenAI API cuts, Grok Voice +60% · Week 30: Opus 5, Copilot Credits

DeepSeek Raises V4 API Rates and Adds Peak Pricing

DeepSeek announced the V4 pricing update on August 13 and made it effective at 16:00 UTC on August 16, 2026. The old flat rate was replaced by peak and off-peak pricing. Peak hours are 01:00 - 04:00 UTC and 06:00 - 10:00 UTC. Every other hour uses the off-peak rate.

V4 Flash previously cost $0.0028 per 1M cache-hit input tokens, $0.14 per 1M cache-miss input tokens, and $0.28 per 1M output tokens. The new off-peak rates are $0.007 / $0.22 / $0.66. Peak rates are $0.014 / $0.44 / $1.32.

V4 Pro previously cost $0.003625 / $0.435 / $0.87 for cache-hit input, cache-miss input, and output. New off-peak rates are $0.022 / $0.66 / $1.98. Peak rates are $0.044 / $1.32 / $3.96.

Concrete workload math: 1M cache-miss input tokens plus 1M output tokens on V4 Flash moved from $0.42 to $0.88 off-peak or $1.76 peak. On V4 Pro, the same workload moved from $1.305 to $2.64 off-peak or $5.28 peak.

Who This Affects

Every DeepSeek API customer. Schedule delay-tolerant batch work outside 01:00 - 04:00 and 06:00 - 10:00 UTC. Off-peak is half the new peak rate, but it is still above the previous flat rate for every listed V4 Flash and V4 Pro token category.

Verified against DeepSeek's official August 13 announcement and current Models & Pricing documentation.

Anthropic Makes Sonnet 5's Lower API Price Permanent

On August 10, Anthropic edited its Sonnet 5 announcement to make the launch rate permanent. Sonnet 5 remains $2 per 1M input tokens and $10 per 1M output tokens.

Anthropic had planned to move Sonnet 5 to $3 input / $15 output on September 1. That scheduled increase no longer applies. A workload using 1M input tokens plus 1M output tokens stays at $12 instead of rising to $18, avoiding $6 per equivalent workload.

This does not change Claude subscription prices. It changes the long-term API rate for developers using claude-sonnet-5.

Who This Affects

Developers budgeting for Sonnet 5 after August. Remove the planned September increase from forecasts. The official permanent list rate is now $2 input and $10 output per 1M tokens.

Verified against Anthropic's official Sonnet 5 announcement, updated August 10.

Suno Sets September Download Caps Without Cutting Prices

Suno announced on August 10 that download limits will begin September 3, 2026. Pro stays at $10/month, or $8/month billed yearly, but falls from unlimited downloads to 20 songs per month. Premier stays at $30/month, or $24/month billed yearly, but falls to 60 songs per month. Suno Studio downloads remain exempt for Premier users. Free accounts receive seven lifetime downloads for personal use.

Who This Affects

Paying Suno users who export more than 20 or 60 songs per month. The dollar price is unchanged, but the usable value of each subscription falls for high-output creators.

Verified against Suno's official August 10 downloads-policy announcement.

Near-misses checked and excluded

These Week 33 items were checked but did not qualify as changes to an existing published price.

OpenAI Ultrafast mode: Announced August 13 in limited preview with no public rate.
Gemini 3.7 Flash: A new model release, not a change to an existing model's rate.
Notion Workers: Current official documentation says the free beta lasts until October 15, 2026. No Worker charge began during Week 33.
OpenAI Fast mode long-context support: Added August 5, outside this briefing window, with no new rate change on that date.

Switch Watch

Three actions based on this week's verified pricing changes.

Action Required

DeepSeek Users: Move Flexible Work Off-Peak

Peak hours are 01:00 - 04:00 and 06:00 - 10:00 UTC. Move flexible workloads off-peak and reset old flat-rate alerts. A 1M input plus 1M output V4 Pro workload is $5.28 peak versus $2.64 off-peak.

Opportunity

Sonnet 5 Users: Remove the September Increase

The permanent rate stays $2 / $10 per 1M tokens. A 1M plus 1M workload remains $12, avoiding the planned $18.

Plan Ahead

Suno power users: export before September 3

If you regularly download more than 20 Pro songs or 60 Premier songs per month, clear the backlog before the caps begin or evaluate a second music tool.