OpenAI halves GPT-5.6 Sol — but only on OpenRouter and Vercel
List price never moved: the cut auto-applies to non-BYOK calls on two routers through Sep 18, and SemiAnalysis says it exists to game usage-share charts.
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Half price, if you route around OpenAI's own API
Sol drops to $2.50/$15 per 1M tokens (from $5/$30) on OpenRouter and Vercel's AI Gateway, auto-applied to every non-BYOK call with no code change. If you already ship on Sol, pointing requests at either gateway halves your bill through Sep 18.
The list price didn't budge
OpenAI's own API stays $5/$30, and Azure and Bedrock are unchanged, so this is a promo on two routers rather than a Sol price drop. Everywhere else, keep budgeting full freight.
SemiAnalysis: it's a market-share magic trick
OpenRouter and Vercel's Gateway are the main public proxies analysts use to estimate model usage share; a 50% cut could inflate Sol's volume there by 100%+, flattering OpenAI-vs-Anthropic numbers with no real demand behind them. Read usage-share dashboards skeptically this month.
The cheap tiers keep racing down
It follows July's cuts that took Luna 80% lower (to $0.20/$1.20) and Terra 20% (to $2.00/$12), as sub-$1 Chinese open-weight models squeeze premium pricing. The pattern: small models get structurally cheaper while the flagship holds list and discounts only tactically.