Reference grid, 6 × 5, 30 figures
Token cost vs cache hit reference grid
The monthly cost of a fixed LLM research loop for every combination of input-token size and prompt-cache hit rate across this grid, priced on Claude Sonnet 4.6. Each cell is a live run of the Token Cost Optimizer engine; no value on this page was entered by hand.
Monthly cost scales linearly with input-token size and falls steeply as the prompt-cache hit rate rises, because cached input reads price far below fresh input tokens. Across this grid the monthly cost runs from $84 (smallest prompt at 2000 tokens, 90% cache) up to $772 (heaviest prompt at 64000 tokens, 0% cache). At the heaviest prompt, lifting the cache hit rate from 0% to 90% cuts the bill by 77% — the single largest lever on this surface. Education only — not investment advice.
Monthly cost by input tokens × cache hit rate
Rows = input tokens per call. Columns = prompt-cache hit rate. Each value
is the engine's
costPerMonth output in USD.
| tokens \ cache | 0% | 25% | 50% | 75% | 90% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,000 | $103 | $97 | $92 | $87 | $84 |
| 4,000 | $124 | $114 | $104 | $93 | $87 |
| 8,000 | $167 | $147 | $126 | $106 | $94 |
| 16,000 | $254 | $213 | $172 | $131 | $106 |
| 32,000 | $427 | $345 | $262 | $180 | $131 |
| 64,000 | $772 | $608 | $444 | $280 | $181 |
Headline metric: monthly cost (USD). The CSV download below also carries the cost per idea, cost per validated trade, and effective cost per call.
How the grid is made
- Engine
- Token Cost Optimizer
(
token-cost-optimizer), computed live from/engines/token-cost-optimizer.js - Grid
- input tokens ∈ {2000, 4000, 8000, 16000, 32000, 64000} × cache hit ∈ {0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 90%} = 30 cells
- Fixed inputs
- model=claude-sonnet-4-6, output_tokens=1500, calls_per_idea=5, retry_rate=0.2, ideas_per_day=30, validation_rate=0.25
- Computed
- , recomputed in CI on every build
The engine is deterministic: token accounting and cache-read pricing are closed-form, so the same input always returns the same output. The full method — the per-call token math, the retry multiplier, and the cache discount — is documented at the Token Cost Optimizer methodology page.
Reference grids are planning aids, not financial, tax, or investment advice. Prices reflect the engine's published rate card and may differ from your billing.