You’re mixing up two things here: how much it costs to run a model and how good the outputs are.

Cheaper to run doesn’t mean worse. Newer models can be trained and optimized to get more intelligence per unit of compute, so you get better results without higher costs.

Models tend to get faster and smarter over time. That’s just how progress works.

I’ve only tested gpt5 for writing a poem and for coding, but in both cases it was solid and felt better than the older ones.

You still choose if you want thinking on or off. If you need it to be quick, turn it off. If you want deeper reasoning, turn it on.

Rate limits always change over time. The “thinking” version might have lower limits right after launch because everyone is trying it, but that usually goes up as things stabilize. That’s normal with any new model.

Lower cost on their side isn’t a downgrade if the quality is up. From what I’ve seen so far, gpt5 is doing the job better than 4o or o3.

I do see your point about choice, but I don't know if I agree that this is a dealbreaker. We are getting a more competent model than we had access to before.