Guides to LLM cost and routing
How to cut LLM API costs
The six levers that actually lower an LLM bill, in the order they pay: right-sizing models, caching, batch pricing, output discipline, spend caps, and per-request proof.
What is an LLM router?
An LLM router sends each request to the model best suited to it, usually to cut cost at held quality. How routing works, when it is safe, and the questions to ask any router.
What is an AI gateway?
An AI gateway is one endpoint in front of your model providers: keys, caps, visibility, and sometimes routing. What gateways do, and how to evaluate one before it touches production.
AI gateway fees, compared
The four ways AI gateways and LLM routers charge: token markup, platform fees on access, subscriptions, and savings-contingent pricing. How to compare them on your own traffic.
Is model routing safe for quality?
Model routing is safe only with specific machinery: pre-registered quality bars, sealed evidence, escalation on refusal, verbatim lanes for fragile traffic, and receipts.
What is an LLM receipt?
An LLM receipt is a per-request record of what served and what it saved: model, configuration, evidence, and counterfactual cost. Why receipts are the unit of trust for AI spend.
Run Claude Code past its plan limits
When Claude Code hits its five-hour window or weekly cap, the session does not have to stop: your plan serves to its cap, then the same session continues on metered billing.
Comparing Finest with a specific product instead? Start at the comparisons.
In 2 minutes, start cutting your API spend without sacrificing quality. Free if you don’t save money.
No model markup. You pay the host’s rate. 25% of what it proves it saved on a request. No saving, no fee.