---
id: 6345
title: "Why Model Routing Backfires and How to Build Agents That Don’t Burn Your Budget"
source_domain: jfrog.com
source_url: "https://jfrog.com/blog/why-model-routing-backfires/"
published_at: "2026-07-23T17:16:20Z"
tags: ["ai-agents", "model-routing", "llm-costs", "prompt-caching", "token-optimization", "jfrog-boost"]
phying_url: "https://phying.com/item/6345"
lang: en
---

# Why Model Routing Backfires and How to Build Agents That Don’t Burn Your Budget

## Summary

JFrog Boost's co-founders explain why switching models mid-session backfires: prompt caches are model-specific, so the new model re-reads the whole conversation at full price, erasing routing savings.

## Intelligence Metadata

- **Sources:** jfrog.com
- **Published:** 2026-07-23T17:16:20Z
- **Original:** https://jfrog.com/blog/why-model-routing-backfires/
- **Phying News:** https://phying.com/item/6345