Topic
Cost Control
22 posts on cost control — guides and lab notes from real runs on hardware we own. New posts land here automatically. Start anywhere, or grab the copy-paste prompts that ship with them.
- 4 min read
April 2026: Every AI Subscription Plan Broke for Builders
April 2026 made one thing clear: chat subscriptions are best-effort tools. Builders need API-level budgets, rate limits, and kill switches when the work matters.
- 4 min read
Computer Use Is 45x More Expensive Than APIs. Here's When To Use Each.
Reflex.dev measured a 45x token cost gap between computer-use agents and structured APIs for the same task. Here's why, and the decision rule that keeps your bill sane.
- 7 min read
Uber Burned Its 2026 AI Budget on Claude Code by April
No metering, no per-team caps, no dashboards. Uber spent its entire 2026 AI budget on Claude Code in just 4 months. The 5-step pattern behind every runaway AI bill — and the fix that stops it.
- 4 min read
OpenAI's guardrails don't control costs. Here's the gap.
OpenAI shipped guardrails in the Agents SDK last month. They validate behavior. They do not enforce spend. Here is the gap and how to close it.
- 5 min read
Meta Employees Consumed 60T AI Tokens in 30 Days: 3 Budget Caps
Meta employees burned 60T AI tokens in 30 days — ~$50K per head, no cap set. Your agent bill is on the same curve. The 3 budget controls Meta skipped, plus guardrails that catch overruns early.
- 8 min read
AI Agent Cost in 2026: $500 DIY to $150K Enterprise [Breakdown]
Vendor quotes for AI agents run 3-5x reality. We surveyed 40+ builds — from $500 DIY weekends to $150K enterprise rollouts. Here's the real 2026 cost breakdown by complexity tier.
- 6 min read
Aymo AI Pricing 2026: Is $39/mo Worth It vs Free?
Is Aymo AI worth $39/mo? We ran every tier for 30 days — the free plan's 50-call cap hits fast. Verdict: paid only beats ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro past ~50 calls/day. (2026)
- 6 min read
How a 9-Person Startup Replaced Its Dev Team With AI
JustPaid ran 7 AI agents 24/7 with OpenClaw, shipped 10 features in a month for $4K/week. Here is the real cost breakdown and what it means for you.
- 8 min read
Stop Runaway LLM Spend: AI Agent Cost Control (Python)
One bad loop and an AI agent burned $200 in minutes. AgentGuard is a Python SDK that enforces hard cost limits at runtime — here is how to ship it.
- 5 min read
How Much Does an AI Agent Cost in 2026?
Compare AI agent build costs and monthly running costs, from DIY to enterprise. Break down API spend, hosting, maintenance, and when to build or buy.
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