AI Token Cost Calculator
Estimate what a language-model feature will actually cost at volume.
Runs entirely in your browser · Nothing is sent or stored · No signup
Estimated monthly cost
$735
$8,818 per year · $0.0147 per request
Where the money goes
With model tiering
Output tokens are 66% of your cost. Shortening responses, or returning structured data instead of prose, is the highest-leverage change available.
What people underestimate#
Output tokens. They typically cost several times more than input tokens, and a feature that generates long responses is dominated by output cost even when the prompt is large.
Retries. Every failed parse, timeout and validation failure is a paid call. A 10% retry rate is a 10% cost increase that does not appear in any estimate made from the happy path.
Context growth. A conversation feature's cost grows with conversation length. Estimating from a single-turn call understates a multi-turn feature substantially.
Tiering is the biggest lever#
Routing straightforward work to a smaller model and escalating only when needed routinely cuts cost by half or more with no measurable quality change. Model both tiers here and compare — the result is usually more dramatic than people expect.
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