Dev weighs ChatGPT subscription via OAuth vs API pricing for a production RAG app
builtforoutput · reddit · 2026-09-15
A developer built a RAG app for a medical organization that searches videos, articles, books, and research to generate cited answers. For production, he's choosing between the OpenAI API (client pays per token) and routing requests through a ChatGPT subscription via OAuth, similar to Codex/OpenClaw — which he has already implemented and works.
The subscription route could be significantly cheaper, but he's worried about usage limits, concurrency issues, or account bans when one account serves a public-facing app. He's asking anyone who has deployed something similar which approach they'd take.
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