The Spend-Curve Test: Free Token Allowance or Self-Hosted, Decided With a Replay Harness

Description and use

<p>Most developers compare a free token allowance with a self-hosted box by lining up monthly prices, and that comparison quietly answers the wrong question. The number you actually need is the shape of your cumulative spend, because a fixed allowance survives a steady workload and evaporates under a bursty one. So here is my conclusion up front: replay your own prompt set, plot tokens against the allowance, and let the crossover day make the hosting decision for you. Everything below is a decision guide around one small, runnable harness — roughly twenty minutes of work, and no benchmark folk

Problem

<p>Most developers compare a free token allowance with a self-hosted box by lining up monthly prices, and that comparison quietly answers the wrong question. The number you actually need is the shape of your cumulative spend, because a fixed allowance survives a steady workload and evaporates under a bursty one. So here is my conclusion up front: replay your own prompt set, plot tokens against the allowance, and let the crossover day make the hosting decision for you. Everything below is a decision guide around one small, runnable harness — roughly twenty minutes of work, and no benchmark folk

Outcome

<p>Most developers compare a free token allowance with a self-hosted box by lining up monthly prices, and that comparison quietly answers the wrong question. The number you actually need is the shape of your cumulative spend, because a fixed allowance survives a steady workload and evaporates under a bursty one. So here is my conclusion up front: replay your own prompt set, plot tokens against the allowance, and let the crossover day make the hosting decision for you. Everything below is a decision guide around one small, runnable harness — roughly twenty minutes of work, and no benchmark folk

Evidence

The Spend-Curve Test: Free Token Allowance or Self-Hosted, Decided With a Replay Harness

Source