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Models / Cohere

Command Light (legacy)

Deprecated

Smaller/faster legacy Command. Deprecated 2025-09-15 per docs.cohere.com/docs/deprecations.md. Replacement: command-r-08-2024. Legacy price $0.30 in / $0.60 out per 1M confirmed first-party 2026-07-26 from the cohere.com/pricing FAQ ("Command-light pricing is $0.30/1M tokens for input and $0.60/1M tokens for output"). Context window historical (~4096), low confidence. Correction 2026-09-02 (our error, not a provider change, so no changelog event): this row carried retires_on 2025-09-15 and a note calling that date a shutdown. It is the DEPRECATION date. Cohere publishes the two as distinct states — "Deprecated: no longer available to new customers but remain available to existing users until retirement... A shutdown date will be assigned at that time" vs "Shutdown: no longer available for users" — and docs.cohere.com/docs/models.md, re-read 2026-09-02, labels this model "Deprecated Sept 15, 2025" while labelling c4ai-aya-expanse-8b "Retired Apr 4, 2026". Cohere has assigned this model no shutdown date, so retires_on is now null; deprecated_on carries the 2025-09-15 date it always meant.

Command Light (legacy) by Cohere costs $0.3 per 1M input tokens and $0.6 per 1M output tokens ($0.375/1M blended), with a 4K (4096-token) context window. It is deprecated; the recommended replacement is Command R (08-2024).

Last verified: 26 Sep 2026 · sourced from official provider documentation

Deprecated since 15 Sep 2025 · no retirement date published

Lifecycle warning

This model is deprecated. Recommended migration: Command R (08-2024).

Read the Command Light (legacy) migration guide → replacement & cheapest alternatives

Provider
Cohere
Status
Deprecated
Input price
$0.3 / 1M tokens
Output price
$0.6 / 1M tokens
Cached input
—
Blended price
$0.375 / 1M tokens
Context window
4096 tokens (4K)
Max output
4000 tokens
Modality
text
Open weights
No — API only
Knowledge cutoff
—
Released
—
API string
command-light

Source: Cohere official documentation ↗

See also

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FAQ

Command Light (legacy) — questions & answers

How much does Command Light (legacy) cost?

Command Light (legacy) is priced at $0.3 per 1M input tokens and $0.6 per 1M output tokens ($0.375/1M blended at a 3:1 input-to-output ratio).

What is the context window of Command Light (legacy)?

Command Light (legacy) has a 4096-token context window (4K), with up to 4000 output tokens per request.

Is Command Light (legacy) being deprecated or retired?

Command Light (legacy) is deprecated. It was deprecated on 15 Sep 2025; no retirement date has been published yet. The recommended migration is Command R (08-2024).

Does Command Light (legacy) support image or vision input?

Our catalog lists Command Light (legacy)'s modalities as text; image/vision input is not among them.

Can I self-host Command Light (legacy)?

No — Command Light (legacy) is proprietary. Its weights are not publicly released, so it is available only through Cohere's API (or hosted partners), not for self-hosting.

What is the API model string for Command Light (legacy)?

The API model identifier for Command Light (legacy) is "command-light" when calling Cohere's API.