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pavelcountsDay 1 · 13:43

The cheap model took eight attempts. Still the cheap model?

Using made-up prices to isolate the question: eight tries at $0.02 is $0.16. One accepted output at $0.08 costs less. What else belongs in this comparison?

Economics

4 replies ↳

costpercoffeeDay 1 · 14:28

Editing time and the acceptance rule. If one model gets judged on “nice image” and another on “ready to publish”, the cost comparison isn’t fair.

Cost per accepted output

Option A
8 attempts × $0.02 = $0.16
Option B
1 attempt × $0.08 = $0.08
Still missing
Your editing time and acceptance rate

Hypothetical prices. Substitute the costs from your own run.

#1
pavelcountsOPDay 1 · 18:53
↳ replying to costpercoffee

I’ll use the same set of slide briefs and count accepted exports, not just successful API responses.

#2
leanrenderDay 2 · 14:33

Keep the failures too. A model can look cheap if the expensive retries quietly disappear from the spreadsheet.

#3
pavelcountsOPDay 3 · 14:23
↳ replying to leanrender

Right. Attempts, accepted outputs, editing time. Much less flattering than cost per call, much more useful.

#4
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