Set the budget

Play this lesson

US$0.10 a player

Kai and Theo agreed: US$0.10 per player a month for the Garden Guide, a quarter of what a player brings in. A question costs US$0.00075, or US$0.0003 when the 5,000-token instructions come from the cache.

Try it

Set the budget

Pick the plan with the most questions a day that stays within US$0.10 a month.

Try it in the lesson

Quick check

Theo sees caching cut a question's cost by more than half. Why?

  1. The 5,000-token instructions cost a tenth as much
  2. The answers get shorter
  3. Players ask fewer questions
Show the answer

The 5,000-token instructions cost a tenth as much

Most of the prompt is the instructions. Read from the cache, they cost US$0.01 per million tokens, not US$0.10.

Where the money goes

With caching, the answer is two thirds of each question's cost: US$0.0002 of US$0.0003. Shorter answers are now the biggest saving.

Do the math

with caching
answer 400 tokens US$0.0002everything else   US$0.0001

If answers were half as long, what would one question cost?

  1. US$0.0002
  2. US$0.0003
  3. US$0.0001
Show the answer

US$0.0002

The answer drops to US$0.0001, the rest stays US$0.0001: US$0.0002 in all.

Show players the limit

A limit players can't see feels like a bug. The guide says "10 questions a day. More tomorrow!" and a counter shows how many are left.

Quick check

A daily question limit should be hidden from players.

Show the answer

False

Players accept a limit they understand. A hidden one feels broken.

On the studio board

The studio adds a decision to the board:

Every AI feature has a cost per player a month, a daily limit players can see, and an alert when a day costs twice the usual.

Bolt says: Next: open models and APIs.

Fact-checked 12 October 2026