Articles
8 articles in Concepts
Why output tokens often dominate the bill, and how to estimate both sides before you call an API.
2026-07-31Why tool-calling agents cost more than single-shot chatHow growing context, tool-result tokens, and multi-turn loops drive agent API bills—and how to estimate them.
2026-07-31API resale margin: cost vs what you chargeHow to price AI wrappers and products so provider COGS, payment fees, and overhead still leave healthy margin.
2026-07-31Why bigger context windows cost moreHow 8K vs 128K vs 1M prompts change token bills—and when caching or retrieval beats stuffing everything in.
2026-07-31How much do 1 million tokens cost?A plain explanation of per-1M input and output prices—and why your real 1M-token bill depends on the mix.
2026-07-31Why retries inflate AI API costHow rate limits, timeouts, and partial billing turn a “successful job” budget into extra attempts and spend.
2026-07-31Does streaming change LLM API cost?Why streamed and buffered responses usually share list prices—and when early cancel or wait economics tip the comparison.
2026-07-30What is a token in LLM APIs?A plain-language explanation of tokens and why they drive AI API bills.