AI Developer Cost Optimization 2026: Token Budgets, Caching & Multi-Model Routing
Enterprise token costs fell 67% year-over-year in 2025–2026 — not because models got dramatically cheaper overnight, but because engineering teams finally learned to route intelligently, cache aggressively, and set hard budget limits on every agentic step. The average enterprise account now runs 4.7 distinct models (up from 2.1 in Q1 2025), open-source models captured 38% of enterprise token volume for the first time ever, and teams that adopted these nine strategies are seeing cost reductions that outpace every model pricing cut combined. ...