Tools Howto
The Batch API discount isn't 50% -- and it isn't always a discount
Batch halves token rates at OpenAI, Anthropic and Google -- but takes only 20% at SpaceXSI. When batch beats a warm cache, and when it costs more.
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Every post tagged "api pricing" in the journal. Tag archives are auto-generated from post frontmatter -- one entry per unique tag across non-draft posts. Currently 8 posts share this tag. Use the category filter above to scope by editorial type.
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Tools Howto 02
input_tokens means three different things. Your cost function knows one of them.
Anthropic's input_tokens excludes cached tokens, OpenAI's includes them. Port a cost function between the two and a $0.082 request bills $0.378. Fields, traps, code.
Tools Howto 03
How to actually get prompt cache hits (and why yours are missing)
Prompt caching fails silently -- no error, no warning, just a full-price bill. The floors, the breakpoint rules, and everything that quietly invalidates a cache.
Analysis 04
Routing by task complexity: what the 2026 evidence actually shows
Ten routers launched on HN in five weeks. The peer-reviewed 2026 benchmarks say they barely beat a baseline. The arithmetic that decides it, on verified rates.
Analysis 05
Token savings are not dollar savings: the conversion math
Cutting 63% of an agent's tokens moved its bill 9%. Cutting 1.2% moved it 15%. The arithmetic that converts token reductions into dollars, on verified 2026 rates.
Analysis 06
Hidden LLM API costs nobody quotes (2026)
The $/M input/output sticker hides cache-write premiums, a tokenizer tax, context surcharges, invisible reasoning tokens, and more. Ten verified costs, with proofs.
Analysis 07
The reasoning dial nobody touches: why your thinking-model bill is so high
In 2026 the biggest lever on your LLM bill isn't which model. It's how hard the model thinks: reasoning tokens bill as output, and most models think by default.
Roundup 08
The cheapest LLM API by use case (2026)
There is no single cheapest LLM API. The winner depends on your workload shape. Verified $/M prices for classification, chat, coding, RAG, batch, and reasoning.