Sign up at sakana.ai for an API key - one key handles the whole model panel.

Sakana Fugu AI: Frontier AI At A Quarter Of The Cost

Sakana Fugu is a new multi-agent AI API from Japanese lab Sakana that delivers near-frontier outputs for roughly 25% of the cost of Fusion — and offers a flat-rate subscription on top.

If you've been priced out of frontier-level AI, this is the cost story to pay attention to. Here's how Sakana Fugu AI works and why it's so cheap.

The Cost Story, Up Front

Sakana Fugu runs a panel of models behind one API and fuses a single answer — the same idea as Fusion, but the economics are very different:

Fusion (via OpenRouter): pay-per-use, API only, and expensive.
Sakana Fugu: roughly 25% of Fusion's cost for the same prompts — plus a flat-rate subscription plan.

For high-volume agent loops, that flat rate is the difference between affordable and not.

What Sakana Fugu Actually Is

Sakana is a Japanese AI lab ("Fugu" = pufferfish), founded by ex-Google researchers including a co-author of "Attention Is All You Need."

Sakana Fugu is their multi-agent system: one API, behind which a panel of models (closed and open) answer and get synthesised into one result. It even manages model selection and delegation for you — no signing up to each model.

There are two tiers: Fugu (fast, low-latency) and Fugu Ultra (the flagship that reportedly matches frontier models like Fable and Mythos).

🆓 Want to learn this stack for free? My free AI Money Lab community walks you through the money-with-AI playbook — the tools, the Agent OS, and 1,000+ AI agents — at zero cost. → Join AI Money Lab free

Fugu vs Fugu Ultra

Fugu is low-latency — fast answers, good for coding (Codex) and customer-facing tools. (Fusion can take 5–10 minutes per answer; Fugu is quick.)

Fugu Ultra is the premium tier, tuned for maximum quality on hard, multi-step tasks like AI research. It costs more, but it's the frontier-matching one.

Benchmarks (Don't Take Them On Faith)

On Sakana's published numbers, Fugu matches or beats Fable 5 on most benchmarks (Terminal Bench: Fugu Ultra 82.1 vs Fable 5 80.4; Live Code Bench: Fugu Ultra 93.2) — except SW Bench Pro, where Fable 5 wins.

These are self-reported, though, and labs have gamed their own scores before. So test independently.

On my free Goldie Bench leaderboard, Fugu Ultra scores 8.62/10 (3 golds) — see the full scorecard and compare real outputs yourself.

The Outputs Are Genuinely Good

Running my standard prompts (a website, a maze game, a galaxy sim, an orbit sim), Fugu's outputs looked excellent — clean design, nice animations — edging out GLM 5.2, Opus 4.8, and even Fusion side by side. That's frontier-class output at a fraction of frontier prices.

How To Use It

Sign up at sakana.ai for an API key.
Pick Fugu (cheap + fast) or Fugu Ultra (premium quality).
Use the API directly or plug it into Free Claude Code or the Agent OS.

Note: at launch, some users reported it wasn't available in the EU/UK — check your region.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sakana Fugu cheaper than Fusion?

Yes — it runs the same prompts for roughly 25% of Fusion's cost, and offers a flat-rate subscription, which is ideal for high-volume agent loops.

What is Sakana Fugu AI?

A multi-agent API from Sakana: a panel of models answers and gets fused into one result, with a premium tier (Fugu Ultra) that reportedly matches frontier models.

Fugu or Fugu Ultra?

Fugu for fast, low-cost work; Fugu Ultra for hard, deep tasks where quality matters most.

Are the benchmarks reliable?

They're self-reported, so verify them. On the independent Goldie Bench, Fugu Ultra scores 8.62/10.

How do I access it?

The Verdict

Sakana Fugu AI brings frontier-level output within reach of a normal budget — ~25% of Fusion's cost, plus a flat rate for heavy use. Verify the hype on your own work, but for value, Sakana Fugu AI is a standout. Learn the whole money-with-AI stack free in AI Money Lab.

About Julian

I'm Julian Goldie — AI entrepreneur, SEO expert, and founder of the AI Profit Boardroom (3,600+ members). I help people learn AI and build income with it.