If you want to avoid expensive AI plans, this post from Ethan Williams may point you in the right direction.
“Unlimited AI” often ends up being the most expensive plan you can buy.
Especially if you’re a light or moderate user.
Here’s what vendors won’t tell you:
In traditional SaaS, “unlimited” made sense. One more login. One more click. One more workflow. Cost to the vendor? Basically zero.
AI is different.
Every single query costs real money. → Tokens processed → GPU time → Energy burned → Or a bill to OpenAI/Anthropic
That marginal cost doesn’t go to zero the way it effectively did in classic SaaS.
So when you see “Unlimited AI” with no credits, no usage meter, no consumption tracking…
Usually, one of a few things is happening:
You’re massively overpaying Light users subsidize heavy users. You’re funding someone else’s AI habit.
You’re about to hit invisible walls Throttled performance. Hidden caps. “Fair use” clauses nobody reads.
The AI is inexpensive or low-powered enough that the vendor can eat the usage without caring Old models. Aggressive shortcuts. Limited investment in what you’re actually paying for.
The uncomfortable truth?
Credits aren’t a cash grab. They’re honesty.
A usage component in pricing means: → You stop subsidizing everyone else → You get flexibility while AI value is still emerging → You gain transparency and control over spend
It’s the same logic as unbundled airfares.
Baggage fees annoyed everyone. But they lowered base ticket prices. Light travelers stopped paying for heavy packers.
Credits do the same thing for AI.
The vendors who show you the meter? They’re the ones who understand their economics.
The ones hiding it? They’re effectively asking you to trust they’ve done the math in their favor.
Here’s a simple question to ask any AI vendor:
“Where’s the meter?”
If there isn’t one, dig deeper.
Because the cost doesn’t disappear. It just gets buried somewhere you can’t see it.
What’s the shadiest “unlimited” pricing you’ve seen?