> why aren't there multiple API providers offering models at dirt cheap prices?

There are. Basically every provider's R1 prices are cheaper than estimated by this article.

The cheapest provider in your link charges 460x more for input tokens than the article estimates.

> The cheapest provider in your link charges 460x more for input tokens than the article estimates.

The article estinates $0.003 per million input tokens, the cheapest on the list is $0.46 per million. The ratio is 120×, not 460×.

OTOH, all of the providers are far below the estimated $3.08 cost per million output tokens

	▲	ruszki 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		There are 7 providers on that page which have higher output token price than $3.08. There is even 1 which has higher input token price than that. So that "all" is not true either.