API Cost Check
SaaS unit economics
Enter your price and expected usage to see how much of each subscription goes to the LLM API, and how heavy a user can get before the API bill exceeds what they pay.
| MRR | |
|---|---|
| Monthly AI API cost | |
| AI API cost per user | |
| AI API cost as % of revenue | |
| Margin after AI API cost | |
| Break-even requests per user per day | |
| Max requests per user per month before AI API cost exceeds the price |
This is not gross margin: hosting, databases, payment fees, support and staff are not included. Use it to check whether the AI API alone leaves enough room.
Need the full monthly bill for every model? Use the cost calculator.
FAQ
What is a healthy AI API cost share?
There is no universal number. Many SaaS products aim to keep total cost of revenue well below half of revenue, and the AI API is only one part of it. Check heavy users with the break-even line, not only the average.
How do I protect margin from heavy users?
Cap daily requests per plan, route simple requests to a cheaper model, enable prompt caching for shared context, and price usage-based tiers above the break-even line shown here.