api pricing

API pricing shapes which products developers can build. The interviewer wants tier spread, input and output pricing, discounts that reward efficient usage, enterprise commitments, and predictability.

Regional capacity is fragmented capacity, and four providers charge about 10% for it. Price it, define exactly what you promise, and tell customers which models arrive late in their region.

Two labs moved from capacity commitments to a pay-per-token fast mode. Decide what speed means, how you stop the fast lane being swamped and who still needs reserved capacity.

Each tool has a different cost driver: search licences per query, retrieved content as tokens, containers by time. Price each on its driver, decide whether retrieved text is billed, and bundle cheap tools with expensive ones.