Published 07:13 AEST · Before US Open · Wednesday, 9 September 2026Pipeline 04:30 AESTVol. I  No. 121
The Grid
Independent Price Reporting for the Compute Market
thegridco.ai
EST. 2026 · SYDNEY
Specification · Class 3 · indicator — a constructed measure that is not a price

RWI · Reference Workload Index — RW-S and RW-L

Two founder-approved reference workloads — RW-S: 1M tokens/day (750k in / 250k out), a small production app; RW-L: 100M tokens/day (80M in / 20M out), a large deployment — priced daily in US$/day on four paths: frontier API (median of three frontier workhorse models' workload cost, each at its cheapest route that day), cheapest hosted open-weight API (minimum across the open-weight set), self-host on GAP-H100 spot, and self-host on GAP-H100-R1Y. RWI-S / RWI-L are the cheapest-path cost rebased to 100 at the series' first print. From 2026-08-22 the two self-host-reserved path series are CEASED (their input is the suspended reserved leg — notice 2026-08-14 §6); the other eight series keep printing.
series ids rwi_s_frontier_api · rwi_s_open_api · rwi_s_selfhost_spot · rwi_s_selfhost_reserved · rwi_s_index · rwi_l_frontier_api · rwi_l_open_api · rwi_l_selfhost_spot · rwi_l_selfhost_reserved · rwi_l_index · methodology v1.0 · unit usd_per_day (paths) · index_100 (RWI-S / RWI-L)

· Class and status

Part B class · print status · latest print of record
Class 3 · indicatorPrinting
Class — and why

Per-outcome cost of two fixed reference workloads across the routes a buyer actually has (derived-instruments decision of record, 2026-07-24). Cost is per task, not per token — and the v1.0 limitation is disclosed on every surface where a value displays (acceptance condition of the 2026-07-24 decision).

Latest print of record · read from storage, not recomputed
Series idRegistry labelMethodologyLatest printValueNote
rwi_s_frontier_apiRW-S frontier API costv1.02026-09-09$2.25/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_s_open_apiRW-S cheapest open-weight API costv1.02026-09-09$0.09/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_s_selfhost_spotRW-S self-host cost (GAP-spot)v1.02026-09-07$307.20/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_s_selfhost_reservedRW-S self-host cost (reserved)v1.02026-08-21$620.59/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_s_indexRWI-S (cheapest path, rebased)v1.02026-09-0950.00inception 2026-07-24
rwi_l_frontier_apiRW-L frontier API costv1.02026-09-09$200.00/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_l_open_apiRW-L cheapest open-weight API costv1.02026-09-09$8.40/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_l_selfhost_spotRW-L self-host cost (GAP-spot)v1.02026-09-07$307.20/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_l_selfhost_reservedRW-L self-host cost (reserved)v1.02026-08-21$620.59/dayinception 2026-07-24
rwi_l_indexRWI-L (cheapest path, rebased)v1.02026-09-0950.00inception 2026-07-24

· Specification

A4 field template · honest current state · n/a fields shown, not hidden
Codesrwi_{s,l}_{frontier_api, open_api, selfhost_spot, selfhost_reserved, index}inception 2026-07-24 — earlier rows never exist (pre-registration backfill archived and deleted, founder decision 2026-07-27)
Reference workloadsRW-S 1M tokens/day (750k in / 250k out) · RW-L 100M tokens/day (80M in / 20M out)
Frontier setclaude-sonnet-5 · gpt-5.6-terra · gemini-3.1-pro, each with ordered fallbacks; median of the three workload costs; each model at its cheapest route across providers/sources that day
Open-weight setdeepseek v4 family · kimi k2/k3 · qwen 3.5 flagship open-weight sizes · llama 3.3-70b, across all providers; minimum workload cost
Self-host throughput assumptionv1.0 (2026-07-24): 700 output tok/s per H100 for 70B-class open weights (cited range 600–800); 60% sustained utilisation, input processing absorbed; minimum deployment 4× H100; nodes = ceil(out_tokens_day / (700 × 0.60 × 86,400 × 4)); $/day = max(nodes,1) × 4 × 24 × price_hrAny change to these numbers is a methodology version bump, not an edit.
Currency / unitUS$ per day (paths); index points, 100 = first print (RWI-S / RWI-L)
Assessment close18:30 UTC — the scheduled daily cycle anchorfrom the day's token_pricing rows plus the GAP legs
Submission cut-offn/a — no submitted inputs
Publication timeWith the daily print (masthead: 04:30 AEST) — on the briefing, /instruments, the daily report, /api/print/<date> (permanent) and MCP.
Data hierarchy appliedPublished per-token list prices from provider price cards (offers, tier 2 — executable at the posted rate; no transactions) and the GAP legs (tier-2 bookable asks). Judgment: none (arithmetic).
Accelerator class / contract basis / regionn/a on the API paths; the self-host paths inherit GAP-H100's SXM-class basis

· Normalisation and construction rules

the named adjustments, in order
  • Per-outcome, not per-token — the workload definition fixes token counts so per-token price differences map to a comparable $/day.
  • Cheapest route per model per day on the frontier path; cheapest model-and-route on the open path.
  • Index rebased to 100 at the series' first print date (base stored in detail).
  • The token-denominated limitation (models differ in tokens-per-task) is disclosed with every value; efficiency-adjusted v1.1 is in development.

· Minimum observations and withholding

below which the print is flagged · below which it is not published

A path prints only when at least one qualifying route exists in the day's token_pricing rows; the index prints when its cheapest path exists. No formal floor is specified.

· Disclosures

verbatim from the derived-series registry · the same string every surface carries
RWI v1.0 (every series)v1.0 is token-denominated; models differ in tokens-per-task; efficiency-adjusted v1.1 in development.
Self-host-reserved legs (from 2026-08-22)Ceased 2026-08-22 with the suspension of its input series GAP-H100-R1Y (methodology change notice 2026-08-14 §6): a self-host cost priced on a suspended leg would restate the defect daily. Published history stands as-published. RWI-S / RWI-L cheapest-path indices are unaffected — the cheapest path was the open-API leg on every print of both.

· Revision history

dated changelog for this code · never rewritten
DateVersionChangeReference
2026-07-24v1.0First print (derived-instruments decision of record, 2026-07-24). Inception fixed at 2026-07-24; pre-registration backfill archived (data/archive/rwi_preinception_2026-07-27.json).scripts/compute_rwi.py
2026-08-14rwi_s_selfhost_reserved and rwi_l_selfhost_reserved cease printing from 2026-08-22 — their input is the suspended reserved leg. RWI-S / RWI-L cheapest-path indices are unaffected: the cheapest path was the open-API leg on every print of both.docs/methodology-notices/2026-08-14-instrument-actions.md §6

· Downstream, surfaces, notices, sources

where it flows · where it shows · what governs it
Downstream series

None.

Surfaces
  • /instruments §Ⅲ
  • /api/print series.rwi
  • /api/mcp get_reference_workload_cost
Notices that govern this code
Sources of record
scripts/compute_rwi.pyscripts/derived_series.py ↔ dashboard/lib/derived-series.ts (RWI_INCEPTION, RWI_V1_DISCLOSURE)scripts/compute_rwi.py header (throughput assumption v1.0, decision of record 2026-07-24)
This page renders the method of record for RWI; it does not define it. Printed values are never rewritten — a change in method is announced by notice before it affects a print (publish-before-effect); a correction restates only what the day’s own information set supported. Permanent print URLs: /api/print/<date>.