AI by Hand ✍️

AI by Hand ✍️

Rate Cards

Dollars per million, on two lines

Prof. Tom Yeh's avatar
Prof. Tom Yeh
May 28, 2026
∙ Paid

Library › Token Problems

  1. Tokenization

  2. Subword Tokens

  3. Non-Word Tokens

  4. Token Ratio

  5. Headroom

  6. Token Pricing

  7. Prompt and Completion

  8. The Billing Line

  9. Asymmetric Pricing

  10. Words to Cents

  11. Token Mix

  12. Usage Forecast

  13. Standing Instructions

  14. Fixed Overhead

  15. Budget Ceiling

  16. Token Allowance

  17. Two Speeds

  18. Output Bound

  19. Rate Cards

  20. Usage Audit

How does real model pricing work? Every major API quotes its price per million tokens, with input and output on separate lines. Output costs several times more than input. To find the total cost, price each side on its own, then add. When comparing models for an agent, these two numbers together determine the real cost per call.

Paid members: the worksheet and its printable PDF are below ↓

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