Blog Series

AI Token Economics — 3 Posts on Spending LLM Budget Well

A practitioner series on LLM token pricing, per-turn optimization, and grounding strategies — what you're actually paying for, how to spend it well, and when grounding reduces costs versus drives them up.

3 posts · For Engineers and developers building with LLM APIs
  1. 1
    You're Not Buying AI. You're Buying Tokens. LLM token pricing explained: understand what you're actually paying for in AI inference, how the token meter works, and when AI cost optimization matters. Engineers, developers, and tech-adjacent professionals who use or build with LLM APIs
  2. 2
    Five Ways to Spend Your Tokens Like They Cost Something Five LLM token optimization strategies with failure modes: prompt compression, structured prompting, output control, and when each approach breaks down. Engineers, developers, and tech-adjacent professionals building with or using LLM APIs
  3. 3
    Does Grounding Reduce Token Usage? It Depends. Does grounding reduce LLM token usage? Three scenarios, three outcomes — and a self-evolving RAG knowledge base you can build in 15 minutes. Engineers and developers building with LLM APIs