AI API cost starts with two separate quantities: input tokens and output tokens. Multiply each by its applicable rate, add the results, then multiply by the number of requests. A useful credit budget also accounts for longer conversations, tool loops, retries and any separately billed features. The arithmetic below is a planning aid with hypothetical prices, not a quote or a promise of how many requests a pack will buy.
Start with one complete request
Count everything you send: system instructions, the user message, retrieved documents and conversation history. Output is the generated content, and its price can differ from input. Measure tokens from representative completed requests rather than converting a character count with a fixed universal ratio.
Write the pricing unit beside every rate. If the catalogue shows a rate per thousand tokens, multiply that rate by one thousand before entering it in a calculator labelled per million. See also Per 1K or per 1M.
Cost per request = (input tokens × input price per 1M
+ output tokens × output price per 1M) / 1,000,000
Monthly base cost = cost per request × requests per day × active daysA worked monthly budget
Consider a hypothetical support assistant processing five hundred requests each day for thirty days. Each request contains two thousand input tokens and produces five hundred output tokens. For this example only, assume input costs one USD per million tokens and output costs four USD per million. These are invented round numbers — not the price of a named model on Supesonic.
| Input: 2,000 × 1 / 1,000,000 | 0.002 USD per request |
| Output: 500 × 4 / 1,000,000 | 0.002 USD per request |
| Combined: 0.004 × 500 × 30 | 60 USD per month |
| Planning allowance: 20% of 60 | 12 USD |
| Base cost plus allowance | 72 USD planning budget |
Choose a credit pack after a measured pilot
Begin with the smallest practical workload that answers your buying question. Check access first, then run a small capped request when your account is ready. Compare the recorded cost with your estimate before scaling. Review pricing and fund credit in Wallet.