I Tracked My AI API Costs for 30 Days. The Results Changed How I Build.

Short summary

Developer tracked AI API costs for 30 days and found that task-based model routing cuts spending by 62% ($2,392/year). By routing tasks intelligently—DeepSeek Flash for coding, Qwen for docs—instead of defaulting to expensive GPT-4.1, weekly spend dropped from $74 to $28 with no quality loss. Using an open-source gateway (FastAnchor), he shows that strategic model selection, not premium pricing, drives sustainable AI infrastructure costs.

• •Tracked API costs; discovered 62% annual savings through task-based model routing
• •DeepSeek and Qwen alternatives matched GPT-4.1 quality at 1/6 and 1/2 the cost
• •Open-source FastAnchor gateway enables multi-model switching with single API endpoint

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.