# How to cut your Claude API costs

Claude offers the deepest caching discount of any major provider — up to 90% off cached input — so prompt structure matters more here than anywhere else. The playbook:

## Playbook (in order of leverage)

1. **Prompt caching** — Explicit cache_control breakpoints give up to 90% off cached tokens (5-min and 1-hour TTLs). Put system prompt, tools, and reference docs above the breakpoint, byte-identical every call. (https://cutmyaispend.com/methods/prompt-caching.md)
2. **Model routing & cascades** — Haiku handles classification, extraction, and routine drafting at a fraction of Sonnet/Opus pricing; cascade upward only on failure. (https://cutmyaispend.com/methods/model-routing.md)
3. **Batch APIs** — The Message Batches API is 50% off and stacks with prompt caching. (https://cutmyaispend.com/methods/batch-apis.md)
4. **Context hygiene & token management** — Long agent conversations dominate Claude bills — summarize history instead of replaying it, and trim tool outputs. (https://cutmyaispend.com/methods/context-hygiene.md)
5. **Fix the context & data layer (agent memory)** — Agent workloads that re-ingest context every session are the #1 Claude overspend pattern; persistent memory cuts it at the source. (https://cutmyaispend.com/methods/fix-the-context-layer.md)

**Pro tip:** Cache-aware prompt ordering is worth more on Claude than any other single change — audit that first.

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Canonical: https://cutmyaispend.com/providers/anthropic-claude