AI strategy & costsFebruary 20265 min read
Reading an API bill without panicking
An LLM bill reads like a foreign language. Once you grasp three words, it turns into an action plan.
By the guinat studio5 min read
The first AI bill is often frightening, less for its amount than for how opaque it is. Tokens, context, models: three notions are enough to take back control and know exactly where the money goes.
The token, the unit that counts
Everything is billed by the token, on the way in as much as on the way out. And the input is everything you send to the model on every call, including the context you carry around without ever reading it. That is often where the bill balloons.
The model, the multiplier
At equal volume, two models can differ in cost by a factor of ten. Spotting which model handles what means spotting the possible savings right away.
A bill you understand stops being a source of dread. It becomes a lever.