JUNE 04, 2026 · BUSINESS

Token Costs Are Not the Price

AI products should not be priced as token resale. Customers buy outcomes, control and reduced operational drag.

A common mistake in AI product design is pricing from the model bill upward.

The founder looks at token cost, adds a margin and calls it pricing. That works for infrastructure. It fails for workflow products.

Customers do not buy tokens. They buy time saved, quality improved, risk reduced and work made visible.

The Unit Cost

For many agent workflows, token cost is surprisingly manageable.

A serious job-application packet might use:

  • 20k to 80k input tokens
  • 2k to 8k output tokens

Even with strong models and retries, the AI cost can land around cents to low single francs per completed packet if the system is designed well.

The expensive part is not the model call. It is messy onboarding, bad source data, unclear approvals, support, edge cases and workflow design.

Where Costs Explode

Costs explode when the product lets agents:

  • re-read full history every run
  • pass whole documents instead of summaries
  • use the strongest model for every step
  • loop through browsers without budgets
  • retry autonomously
  • chat instead of execute

The fix is architecture:

  • cheap models for extraction
  • stronger models for final drafting and review
  • cached profile summaries
  • stored job summaries
  • per-customer budgets
  • approval before expensive bulk work

Pricing Around Value

For a coach, the value is not "an AI call". It is fewer admin hours and better documentation.

If a coach with 10 clients saves only 30 minutes per client per week, that is 20 hours per month. At CHF 80 to 120 per hour internal value, that is CHF 1'600 to 2'400 of saved capacity.

That can justify a CHF 490 to 1'200 monthly product if the workflow is reliable.

The Packaging

Do not expose token pricing to normal customers. Use units they understand:

  • active clients
  • application packets
  • monthly exports
  • approval seats
  • proof storage
  • concierge setup

Example:

CHF 490/month
1 coach
3-5 clients
100 application packets
Arbeitsbemühungen export
approval-gated workflow

For end users, the price must be simpler and lower:

CHF 49/month
20 quality application packets
proof tracking
monthly export
no automatic mass applications

The Rule

If the customer asks about tokens, the product has not been packaged clearly enough.

Price the workflow. Control the tokens internally.