Claude Sonnet 5.5: an 80% cache-hit rate is worth about as much as the Batch API

IteraCompute published a pricing analysis showing that an 80% prompt-cache hit rate on Claude Sonnet 5.5 costs about the same as Anthropic's Batch API discount, with a 100M-input/10M-output month totaling $148 at 80% cache hits in real time versus $150 on Batch with no caching. The analysis notes Sonnet 5.5 cache reads are priced at 0.05x base input rather than the 0.1x used by older Claude models, and that batch discounts stack on top of caching. IteraCompute is serving the model through an OpenAI-compatible API at Anthropic's Batch per-token prices without the queue.

Anthropic's Batch API halves the price of Claude Sonnet 5.5 if you can wait up to 24 hours. Prompt caching cuts the input side by 95% on every hit, in real time. On a typical month, the two end up close to the same bill, so it's worth knowing which lever you're actually pulling before you move traffic into a queue. Anthropic list prices for Claude Sonnet 5.5 USD per 1M tokens, checked 2026-11-05 | Tier | Input | Cache read | Cache write 5m / 1h | Output | |---|---|---|---|---| | Standard real time | $2.00 | $0.10 | $2.50 / $4.00 | $10.00 | | Batch API async, up to 24h | $1.00 | $0.05 | $1.25 / $2.00 | $5.00 | Cache reads on Sonnet 5.5 are 0.05x of base input, not the 0.1x most older Claude models use, and the batch discount stacks on top. US-only inference inference geo adds 1.1x to everything. One month: 100M input tokens, 10M output tokens cache writes left out | Cache-hit rate | Standard | Batch | |---|---|---| | 0% | $300.00 | $150.00 | | 50% | $205.00 | $102.50 | | 80% | $148.00 | $74.00 | | 90% | $129.00 | $64.50 | The number to notice: Batch at 0% cache hits $150 costs about the same as real time at 80% hits $148 . If your prompts share a long, stable prefix, fixing caching gets you the batch discount without the 24-hour wait. Batch only wins clearly when the prefix varies per request, or when you can get both. Where the money goes once caching works At 90% hits on the standard tier, input is $29 of the $129 and output is $100. From that point, input price barely matters. What moves the bill: A quick way to decide This is IteraCompute. We serve anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-5 through an OpenAI-compatible API, real time, at $1.00 input / $0.05 cached input / $1.25 cache write 5m / $5.00 output per 1M tokens checked 2026-11-05 . That matches Anthropic's Batch per-token prices without the queue: $74 for the 80%-hit month above, against $148 on Anthropic's standard tier. If your workload can wait for Anthropic's Batch API, that's the same price direct. The same key also serves Claude Haiku 5.5 and low-cost open models like DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, so a mixed route doesn't need a second client: Iteracompute Claude Sonnet 5.5 https://iteracompute.com/models/claude-sonnet-5-5/?utm source=dev&utm medium=social&utm campaign=one api mix 202611&utm content=20261105 dev sonnet 01 Sources: Anthropic pricing docs model pricing, batch processing, prompt caching, data residency sections , checked 2026-11-05.