AI app budgeting
AI Cost Calculator
Estimate monthly AI product cost from active users, AI actions, model calls, tokens, embeddings, retry overhead, infrastructure, and budget buffer.
Estimate AI app cost
Start with an app scenario, replace usage and token assumptions, then share or export the budget.
- 1Pick scenarioStart from a copilot, bot, RAG, or agent.
- 2Set usageEnter users, actions, calls, and tokens.
- 3Check budgetReview model, embedding, and overhead cost.
- 4Share or exportCopy the link or download the CSV.
| Provider | Model | LLM cost | Total app cost | Cost / action | Budget with buffer |
|---|
Start from users and actions
Budget the AI feature the way a product team sees it: users, actions, calls, and monthly spend.
Separate input and output
Change token assumptions for prompts, responses, cached context, retries, and model alternatives.
Add fixed platform costs
Include embedding tokens and a monthly vector database or infrastructure line item in the same estimate.
How to use this AI cost calculator
Use this page when you need a high-level budget for a chatbot, AI workflow, SaaS feature, agent, or RAG-backed product. Start with realistic usage: active users, AI actions per user, and model calls per action. Then refine token counts with a token counter or a provider-specific calculator.
The comparison table uses the same workload across available OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini models. For deeper provider-specific rules, use the AI API pricing calculator, OpenAI API cost calculator, RAG cost calculator, or AI agent cost calculator.
| Input | Why it matters | Next page |
|---|---|---|
| Users and AI actions | Translates token spend into product-level unit economics. | LLM Cost Calculator |
| Prompt and response tokens | Input and output tokens usually have different prices. | Token Counter |
| Embeddings and vector DB | RAG workloads often have indexing and storage costs outside the model call. | Embedding Cost Calculator |
| Retries and buffers | Production traffic, failed calls, and safety checks can raise real spend. | Prompt Caching Savings Calculator |
FAQ
What does this AI cost calculator include?
It estimates LLM inference, embedding or indexing cost, vector database or infrastructure cost, retry overhead, and a budget buffer from one workload model.
Is this enough for production budgeting?
Use it for first-pass planning. Before purchasing or setting customer pricing, verify current provider pricing and add your own hosting, observability, support, and margin assumptions.
Sources
Prices in this site were last checked on 2026-07-04. Provider pricing and model availability can change.