DeepSeek overtakes Google on volume, cost per token falls 13.6%

This post details Vercel's AI Gateway's August 2026 production index, analyzing AI usage trends through July 2026. Key technical contributions include: 1. Tracking a 13.6% average price per token decrease in July, driven by increased volume and a shift to cheaper models. 2. Highlighting DeepSeek's rise to become the second-largest lab by token volume, surpassing Google. 3. Analyzing Anthropic's premium pricing strategy and its impact on gateway spending. 4. Observing the significant adoption of new models like Kimi K3 and GLM 5.2 for long-horizon agent work, and their impact on open-weight model market share. 5. Quantifying the shift in model mix by companies, with a majority changing at least a tenth of their model usage. 6. Noting the increasing volume and spend on inference, even as cost per token decreases.