Token-based pricing is strange: unpredictable, decoupled from value, misaligned incentives
amankhan · x · 2026-10-07
Developer amankhan argues token-based LLM pricing is deeply strange: tokens roughly map to compute time, but non-deterministic outputs make bills essentially unpredictable; token spend has no direct link to value or capacity delivered; and like billable hours, vendors have no incentive to lower your token spend without competitive pressure.
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