Platform costs
Why your AI tool bill adds up.
The AI coding tools meter cost in credits, “fast requests,” and usage charges that don’t obviously map to dollars. Here’s how each one actually bills — and how to estimate the real token cost underneath.
- CursorAn AI-first code editor that meters frontier-model use against a dollar-denominated usage pool.
- GitHub CopilotThe pair-programmer that moved to usage-based AI Credits (1 credit = $0.01) in June 2026.
- Claude CodeAnthropic’s terminal coding agent — pay a flat Claude subscription or raw API tokens.
- ReplitCloud IDE whose Agent bills by “effort” — you pay for the work it performs, success or not.
- Bolt.newBrowser-based full-stack app builder that meters standard LLM tokens, not abstract credits.
- v0 (Vercel)Vercel’s generative-UI tool, now metered on input/output tokens converted to dollar credits.
- LovablePrompt-to-app builder metered in credits, with a separate usage bill for the apps you ship.
- Windsurf (now Devin Desktop)Codeium’s Windsurf editor was acquired by Cognition and rebranded Devin Desktop — its pricing now mirrors Devin’s token-quota model.