Stop guessing. Tell us what you want to build — we'll show you exactly what it costs across every major AI tool, in plain English.
AI tools charge by the "token" — a token is roughly ¾ of a word, or about 4 characters. Here are real-life examples so you can picture your own usage.
"Hey, can you help me fix this bug? The login button doesn't work on mobile Safari."
"Write a professional email to a client explaining a project delay. Give me 3 timeline options and keep it under 200 words."
"Write a 750-word blog post about productivity tips for remote workers, with an intro, 5 tips explained in detail, and a strong conclusion."
"Review this 150-line app component for bugs, speed issues, and best practices. [paste code here]"
"Here's a 40-page report. Summarize the key findings, pull out the top 10 recommendations, and flag any contradictions."
"Build a full app with user login, payments, a dashboard, and an API. Include all files, a README, and deployment instructions."
Pick a model, type your question, tell us how long you want the answer — we'll show you the exact cost.
Select a model above to get started
Paste anything — a prompt you're writing, a response you got from an AI, a document — and see exactly how many tokens it is and what it would cost.
Estimate uses ~4 characters per token, which is standard for English. Actual counts vary slightly by model.
These techniques can slash your AI bill by 50–90% without sacrificing quality. No technical degree required.
Not every question needs the smartest (and priciest) AI. Use a budget model like Gemini Flash or GPT-4o Mini for basic questions — they're 10–50× cheaper and just as good for simple stuff.
The instructions you give the AI (called a "system prompt") are charged every single time. Cut yours from 500 words to 100 words and you instantly slash a chunk of your bill.
The AI's response is what costs the most. If you only need a 200-word answer, say so. "Reply in under 200 words" can cut your cost per message in half.
If you send the same instructions to the AI on every request, most providers will charge you 50–90% less after the first time. Ask your developer to enable "prompt caching."
In a long chat, the AI re-reads the entire history every time. After a while, replace old messages with a short 3-sentence summary. Costs stay flat instead of growing forever.
If you don't need an instant answer — like running reports overnight or processing a large list — use "batch mode." OpenAI and Anthropic charge exactly 50% less for batch jobs.
Saying "give me just the JSON, no explanation" instead of "explain your thinking then give me the JSON" removes a lot of unnecessary output tokens that you're paying for but don't need.
If lots of users ask the same questions, store the AI's answer and re-use it. No API call = zero cost. Even caching 20% of requests can dramatically reduce your monthly bill.
Instead of pasting a 50-page document into every prompt, use a search tool to find only the 2–3 relevant paragraphs first, then send just those. It's called RAG, and it saves a fortune.
Every AI provider lets you set a monthly spending cap. Takes 2 minutes. One runaway prompt can cost 100× what you expect — a cap means you'll never wake up to a surprise bill.