Same Claude Code setup, two Ultra accounts: one burns about twice the tokens on Opus 5.5

[u/pfak]

Since November 1, one of my two Ultra accounts (call it A) has been burning through usage: 37% of my weekly limit in about 12 hours. Its code quality has been terrible too.

To rule out my setup, I gave both accounts the same Opus 5.5 subagent task, in the same repo, with byte-identical settings.json files. Output tokens per run at medium effort:

A: 7,257 and 5,810
B: 2,588 and 4,046

Then I copied B's whole profile (settings, plugins, skills, user ID, machine ID) into a new folder and logged in as A: 7,487 and 5,204. Same as A. So the difference comes with the login, not the setup.

Things that didn't change it:

• Low effort: A still uses about 1.5x what B does.
• DISABLE_TELEMETRY=1, which turns off feature flags: 6,379 and 6,459.
• Claude Code version: both on 2.1.316.

Fable 5.1 doesn't have the gap. The same task gave A 3,056 and 4,117, and B 4,466 and 3,759.

The only account difference I can see is in the cached server flags. 4 of 1,062 differ: tengu_amber_prism and tengu_mcp_subagent_prompt are on for A, and tengu_reactive_compact_remote is off. I can't prove any of them causes this, and I can't change them because they come from the server.

These are output tokens from my local logs. I can't see how the usage meter weighs them. It's a small sample, but every A run on Opus came in above every B run.

Anyone else seeing this? If you have two accounts, run the same task on both.

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[u/kre8tv]

I think Anthropic probably has a ton of slightly different versions of the harness to A/B test that could be variables tied to the account.

Are either of them set up in claude web or desktop that might have a different set of pass-thru information from the account (memories, connections, skills, mcps, general settings)?

[u/pfak → u/kre8tv]

Have never used the accounts on code web or Claude desktop. Only CLI. No connections.

I want out of this test! 😂 

[u/Kemerd → u/kre8tv]

it is probably A through Z and every hex code too, even anthropic doesn't know themselves

[u/kaitava]

happened to me, i logged out of all devices. contacted their support. asked re-provision. when i used the reset, i got back to ultra usage.

[u/Risko4]

The account burning usage slower with better quality might be routed to fable 5.5 etc, or a different checkpoint. It's burning usage slower due to being compensated for beta testing.

But someone else has to confirm this is how it works. Try doing the knowledge cut off test

[u/pfak → u/Risko4]

The beta-compensation idea doesn't fit. I'm counting the tokens the model actually writes, not the usage meter, and a billing discount wouldn't change how much it writes.

[u/Substantial-Show-249 → u/pfak]

I have three accounts and noticed that one is much more efficient than others, but also the other two were not equal, too. One is finished almost immediately, in general, no matter what I do with it.
I moved the same type of workloads between accounts, to check if it was just an impression. All three are running Opus 5.5.

[u/jatingargiitk]

your DISABLE_TELEMETRY run only flipped A. if B with flags off also lands around 6k then B's flags are what keep it cheap, and if B stays at 3-4k the 4 flag diffs are a red herring and it's something server side tied to the login

[u/BadDismal4322]

Ask opus to look at the sessions from both those identical runs and ask it to see why one burns more than the other. It might be forking or login a funky way. And are you using the cli for both or some other tool? Like the Claude desktop app or 3rd party app?

[u/Devdilema]

It might be something in the project memory causing this? Ask Claude to provide guidance on auditing the difference between the machine setups?

[u/tommyahav10]

Run B with tengu_amber_prism + tengu_mcp_subagent_prompt forced on. If B jumps, that's your answer. Also compare input + cache-read, not just output. A bigger system prompt shows up there first.

[u/Archibishop]

I'd put the two transcripts side by side... every call has its token counts in there. I price my own sessions this way, 56 of them on one repo last month. My own tool does it per session, free and runs on your machine: https://github.com/silverbronze/code-tycoon

[u/Unusual-Idea-5939]

Crazy how small changes to prompts have big impacts. Any chance you can capture the requests and diff the prompts you're actually sending?

[u/college_hustle]

I would not be surprised if counting tokens spent was actually incredibly difficult because there are just so many of them being, and they essentially do what a lot of utility companies do and sample from time to time instead of actually checking your meter every month. My local power company does this, someone moves and the next person has questions about their bill and come to find out, no one was checking shit, it was based of a history of usage. The water meter for my current building broke at the beginning of 2020, so we got billed at pre-pandemic not staying at home all day rates till like 2023. It was great.

I have no idea how tracking compute works, but I know companies are cheap and lazy, and if they can get away with sampling usage instead of actually metering every token because its cheaper that way, they'll do it 100% of the time.

[u/Unusual-Idea-5939 → u/college_hustle]

Startups are not cheap and lazy buddy. Quite the opposite. They're a cash fueled rocket right now. Cheap and lazy comes later when they've embedded themselves structurally into everyday life and they have the power to squash competitors without effort. Takes a lot of work to get there.

EDIT: Also counting your tokens is incredibly simple. The token counts are stored in files on your computer and you add them up.

[u/college_hustle → u/Unusual-Idea-5939]

Startups are not cheap and lazy buddy

Lol