Blog
Notes on AI API costs, token pricing and budgeting for indie builders. Start with the monthly cost estimator if you just want your number.
6 November 2026
How much does the OpenAI API cost? Real prices per million tokens
OpenAI's API is pay-as-you-go per million tokens — no subscription. GPT-6.1 Terra starts at $1.00 input / $5.00 output per 1M tokens; the flagship GPT-6 Astra is $10 / $50. Worked examples, cached-input savings, and what actually drives your bill.
6 November 2026
Run a quarterly API cost review: four checkpoints that stop token spend drifting
AI API bills drift silently — a model switch, longer outputs, more retries, one feature that takes off. A quarterly review catches the drift: re-price what you run, split any change between volume, tokens and price, cap the surprises, and review alongside your quarterly admin.
5 November 2026
Your AI API bill varies every month — your tax reserve should vary too
Usage-based API spend swings with traffic, retries and model mix — and so does taxable profit. How to budget monthly API costs alongside quarterly estimated taxes, without overpaying in quiet months.