Key Terms
- The Dial - Amp's mode selector:
low(GLM-5.2),medium(GPT-5.6 Sol, medium reasoning, default),high(GPT-5.6 Sol, xhigh),ultra(Fable 5, now Fable 5.1). Source: Ampcode – Modes - A Dial for You - since August 10, the Dial can run
low,medium, andhighon a user's linked ChatGPT subscription, adapting Amp's cost to subscriptions users already pay for. Source: Ampcode – A Dial For You - Orbs - Amp's remote agent machines (a0.tiny $0.08/hr to a0.large $1.32/hr). August brought cheaper/more efficient orbs ("Size the Orbs of Production", Aug 7), portals with live-reloading app previews (Aug 6), friendly sharing URLs (Aug 23), and MCP server support (Aug 19). Sources: Ampcode – Size The Orbs Of Production , Ampcode – Mcp In Orbs
- Puck - Amp's meta-agent; gained realtime voice control (Aug 18) and token accounting via Explain Usage (Aug 21). Sources: Ampcode – Talk To Puck , Ampcode – Explain Usage
- Portals - live previews of an agent's changes running inside an orb, with hot reload, shareable via friendly URLs. Sources: Ampcode – Portals , Ampcode – Friendly Urls For Sharing Orbs
- Explain Usage - ask Puck "where your tokens went," a rare published usage-transparency feature in the coding-agent market. Source: Ampcode – Explain Usage
Latest Changes
Changes since the 2026-07 report.
July watch items verified:
- Free tier reopening: still-pending. No reopening announcement appears in the news feed through September 2; the Free tier remains closed to new signups since February. Sources: Ampcode – News , Ampcode – Amp Free Is Full For Now
- Per-token rate publication: failed (second consecutive month). Included usage allowances remain dollar-denominated with no per-token breakdown. Source: Ampcode – Pricing
- Model updates: Fable 5.1 replaced Fable 5 as the
ultramodel on September 1 (post-period), a same-day adoption of Anthropic's launch. GPT-5.6 Sol remainsmedium/high; GLM-5.2 remainslow. Source: Ampcode – Fable 5.1
New August changes:
- Model change (Sep 1, post-period): Claude Fable 5.1 now powers
ultra, "It brings you proof, not a diff." Source: Ampcode – Fable 5.1 - Pricing change (Aug 10): A Dial for You lets users link a ChatGPT subscription and run
low,medium, andhighon it, extending July's linked-subscription Megawatt mechanic across the Dial. Source: Ampcode – A Dial For You - New discount (Aug 18): Education pricing at $10/month (half of Megawatt) for students and teachers. Source: Ampcode – Edu Discount
- New apps (Aug 28): Amp on iOS and macOS, with threads, orbs, and Puck on mobile. Source: Ampcode – Amp On Ios And Macos
- Feature added: Multi-repo projects (Aug 27); Space to Talk live team chat inside threads (Aug 31); verified commit authorship without mailmap (Aug 28); global plugins and skills with workspace sharing (Aug 11); Attach Anything file uploads including videos, logs, PDFs, datasets (Aug 4); orb setup without committing Amp-specific files (Aug 25); TUI sidebar removed (Aug 27). Sources: Ampcode – Multi Repo Projects , Ampcode – Space , Ampcode – Attach Anything
- Transparency feature (Aug 21): Explain Usage lets users ask Puck where their tokens went. Source: Ampcode – Explain Usage
- Cost improvements (Aug 7): orbs got "a lot of improvements" to be cheaper and more efficient. Source: Ampcode – Size The Orbs Of Production
- Editorial: Three long-form notes on orbs (Aug 4, 10, 25, culminating in "Orbs, Explained") argue remote agent machines change everything about Amp's architecture. Source: Ampcode – Orbs Explained
Plans
| Plan | Price | Included usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Megawatt | $20/mo | $20 agent usage + 750 small-orb hours | low/medium modes; ChatGPT/X subscription linking (now Dial-wide for ChatGPT) |
| Gigawatt | $200/mo | $200 agent usage + 1,000 large-orb hours | All modes including high and ultra |
| Education (new) | $10/mo | Half-price Megawatt | Students and teachers. Source: Ampcode – Edu Discount |
| Pay-as-you-go | Usage-based | n/a | Orb hourly rates $0.08-$1.32 |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Managed settings, entitlements, Proof of Human enforcement |
| Free | Closed | - | Still full since February; not listed on pricing |
Source: Ampcode – Pricing
API Pricing
Amp does not publish per-token API rates. Costs are denominated in included dollar allowances, pay-as-you-go agent usage, and orb machine hours ($0.08-$1.32/hour by size). The August "Size the Orbs of Production" post reduced effective orb costs without publishing new hourly rates. Source: Ampcode – Pricing
Model Performance / Benchmarks
Amp publishes no benchmark tables. Fable 5.1's underlying scores are in the Anthropic section (Terminal-Bench 4.0 55.8%, CursorBench 3.2.0 73.4%). Source: Anthropic – Claude Fable And Mythos 5 1
Latest News
Amp Ships a Full Client Ecosystem (August 2026)
Amp released native iOS and macOS apps (Aug 28) and removed the TUI sidebar in favor of the newer interface (Aug 27), completing the "agents, everywhere" web/CLI/mobile surface. Multi-repo projects (Aug 27) let a single Amp project span every repository it needs. Source: Ampcode – Amp On Ios And Macos
The Dial Learns to Bill Through Your ChatGPT Subscription (August 10, 2026)
"A Dial for You" runs low, medium, and high modes on a linked ChatGPT subscription, an unusual cost model in which Amp's agent usage rides on infrastructure the user already pays for. Source: Ampcode – A Dial For You
Puck Grows Voice and Accounting (August 2026)
Puck, the meta-agent, gained realtime voice control (Aug 18) and Explain Usage token accounting (Aug 21). MCP servers became connectable in orbs and to Puck (Aug 19). Sources: Ampcode – Talk To Puck , Ampcode – Explain Usage
Community Signals
Amp's public community footprint is small relative to its feature velocity; no significant August HN/Reddit threads were found. Its podcast (Raising an Agent, Season 2 Episodes 2-3) ran Aug 11 and Aug 27, and Time Capsule tutorials on orbs and portals published Aug 11. The "Orbs, Explained" essay (Aug 25) is the team's own most direct public argument for its architecture. Sources: Ampcode – Episode 03 , Ampcode – Orbs Explained
Enterprise Readiness
| Feature | Available? | Details |
|---|---|---|
| SSO (SAML) | Yes | Enterprise workspaces (carried over). Source: Ampcode – Pricing |
| SSO (OIDC) | Yes | Orbs support OIDC workload identity ("Secrets of the Orb", July). Source: Ampcode – Secrets Of The Orb |
| SCIM | No | Not documented. |
| Audit logs | Partial | Usage analytics and Explain Usage; enterprise audit trail not documented. |
| IP indemnity | No | Not mentioned. |
| Data residency | No | Not documented. |
| HIPAA | No | Not mentioned. |
| Air-gapped / on-prem | Partial | Agents Anywhere (July) runs agents on user-operated machines; orbs are Sourcegraph-run. Source: Ampcode – Agents Anywhere |
| SLA | No | Not published. |
| Admin controls (RBAC) | Yes | Enterprise managed settings, workspace entitlements, Proof of Human passkey enforcement, MCP permissions. Sources: Ampcode – Proof Of Human , Ampcode – Pricing |
| SOC 2 | Yes (implied) | The Aug 13 note "That's not SOC 2 compliant" presumes SOC 2 posture; Sourcegraph maintains compliance historically. Source: Ampcode – Thats Not Soc 2 Compliant |
Transparency Gaps
| Gap | Details | Severity |
|---|---|---|
| Per-token rates | No published per-model token costs behind the dollar allowances (second month). Explain Usage (Aug 21) shows past consumption, not future rates. | High |
| Free tier closure | Closed since February with no reopening timeline. | Medium |
| Orb cost reduction size | "Cheaper and more efficient" orbs came without quantified savings or new rate cards. | Medium |
| Education plan limits | Whether the $10 plan includes Megawatt orb hours and usage allowances is not detailed. | Low |