Why cap users by tokens instead of requests?

A single request can range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of tokens, so request limits barely bound cost. Token quotas put a hard, predictable ceiling on what any user can cost you in a month, which is what an SLA needs.

What is the cost ceiling and why does it matter?

The cost ceiling is your total token spend if every user consumed their entire quota. Pricing each tier above its per-user ceiling guarantees you never lose money on inference, even in a worst-case usage month.

Should I expect users to hit their full quota?

Usually not — most users consume a fraction of their allowance, so real spend is well below the ceiling. But planning to the ceiling means a usage spike or abuse never turns into an unbounded bill.

Is my data sent anywhere?

No. The planner runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is uploaded, stored or logged.

Token-Based SLA Planner

Plan token quotas that protect your margin

If your product passes LLM calls through to users, an unbounded user is an unbounded bill. Token-based quotas turn that risk into a fixed, plannable number: each tier gets a monthly token allowance, and your maximum exposure is simply the sum of those allowances times your token price. This planner computes the worst-case cost per tier and your total cost ceiling so you can price every plan above what it can ever cost.

How it works

For each tier, the maximum monthly cost per user is:

max_cost_per_user = tier_tokens / 1,000,000 × blended_price
tier_ceiling      = max_cost_per_user × users_in_tier

Summed across tiers, the total cost ceiling is the most you could spend on inference in a worst-case month. The planner also reports a blended cost per user across your whole base, which is the number to keep below your blended revenue per user. As long as each tier’s price exceeds its per-user ceiling, the unit economics hold no matter how heavily users engage.

Tips for token SLAs

Price above the ceiling, not the average. Averages feel safe until a power user or an abuse spike arrives; the ceiling is what an SLA must cover.
Make quotas visible. Show users their remaining tokens so the limit is a feature, not a surprise wall.
Offer overage, don’t just block. Metered overage above the quota recovers cost from heavy users instead of cutting them off.
Re-blend the price when models change. Switching default models or enabling caching shifts your effective per-token cost — re-run the plan when it does.