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On September 21, 2026 the Strands Agents team reported 28% lower token cost across six benchmarks, and 77% less than Claude Code with Fable 5 on Terminal-Bench. That figure is not an AgentCore bill.
For the person who will build your first store agent on AWS — not a Shopify plug-in. One lookup workflow this week; refunds wait for a person. Planning silhouette ~$791/mo at 50K sessions.
Your org chart wants five agents before one lookup works. If you are under ~8 tools and one audience, stop — one agent. The ~$791/mo platform cost floor at 50,000 sessions is one support-shaped mix, not five specialists.
Do not staff all five specialists in week one. An open-ended "handle this order" fans out to every agent. Hop cap 2. The ~$791/mo platform cost floor at 50,000 sessions is one support-shaped mix, not a fleet budget.
Do not pick AgentCore vs Quick. Pick the surface. Agent Skills are official on Harness and Strands, not Chat Agents. August 2026 list price: 500-employee Quick Professional ~$10,250/mo vs ~$791 AgentCore at 50K sessions.
Harness GA Jun 17, 2026 plus Strands 1.0 primitives — and why AWS Context is still Coming soon. Reuse the ~180→95 ms Gateway canary; ship Managed KB today.