Cost & Receipts
Measure cost-per-success, not just tokens — and get a shareable receipt for every task.
BudgetAI measures what a task actually costs to complete and issues a receipt for every run. Savings become something you can show, not just claim.
Cost-per-success
Token counts alone hide the real question: how much did it cost to actually finish the job? BudgetAI tracks three headline numbers:
| Metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Saved | Spend avoided versus always using the top tier |
| Success rate | Share of tasks that met their contract |
| Cost per success | Average cost of a completed task |
Receipts
Every session ends with a receipt showing where the money went and why any escalation happened.
receipt · session 4f2a PASSED
────────────────────────────────────────────────
router · R1 (verify) $0.012
escalation · R2 $0.061
tools · 5 calls $0.007
────────────────────────────────────────────────
total $0.080
saved vs. top tier $0.410Export a receipt to share with a teammate or client:
budgetai cost receipt <session-id> --format md # or pdfInspecting spend
budgetai cost # recent spend summary
budgetai cost --session <id> # one session in detail
budgetai cost --by provider # group spend by providerShadow rehearsal
Estimate a run before committing to it:
budgetai agent -m "Refactor the parser" --dry-run
# → estimated $0.12–$0.40, success ~80% under this policyPair receipts with Channel Budgets to keep every surface — personal chat, team workspace, and cron — inside its own spend ceiling.