A GUIDE TO THE TOOL
Understand your AI costs.
Start with what you have.
Use a bill to understand spending, or compare two AI options using their cost and a small sample of your work. You can begin without connecting an account or preparing a spreadsheet.
Choose your starting point.
I have a bill or subscription charge.
Choose Start a review → Start with a bill. Enter the amount, currency, invoice date, and service period if you know it. A previous bill or same-period budget adds context. Without usage records, this establishes a cost baseline; it cannot tell you which work caused the bill.
I pay for several AI tools.
Choose Review my AI tools. Enter subscription charges and separately billed usage for one period. Include a source for each charge and an owner when you know who is responsible. Check for duplicate charges and avoid adding usage already included in a subscription.
I want to compare two options.
Choose Compare two options. The form starts blank. Enter their monthly costs, how many tasks you complete, and the usable outputs and review time from a sample of the same work. The result estimates cost per usable result and shows the monthly value you assign to reviewing and fixing time.
In Review my AI tools, explicitly choose whether the amounts are checked bills, estimates, or allocated costs. Confirm that the charges share one period and do not overlap. Neither choice independently verifies a provider bill.
I have usage records, or want to price a prompt.
Review AI usage analyzes supported request or trace exports. Upload what you have checks supported CSV, JSON, and text-based invoice PDFs. A scanned PDF may need manual entry. Price a prompt models API costs using the tool's dated price catalog and your assumptions; it does not run your prompt or fetch live prices.
A cheaper plan can mean more work.
This invented example compares 100 tasks per month. You check 20 outputs from each plan and value your time at $30 an hour.
| Measure | Plan A | Plan B |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly tool cost | $80 | $40 |
| Usable outputs out of 20 | 18 | 16 |
| Minutes reviewing the sample | 60 | 120 |
| Estimated usable outputs per month | 90 | 80 |
| Estimated monthly time value | $150 | $300 |
| Tool cost plus time value | $230 | $340 |
| Cost per usable result | $2.56 | $4.25 |
Plan A has the lower estimated cost per usable result, even though its subscription costs more. The sample suggests where to investigate; it does not prove what will happen next month.
The calculation projects sample review time and usable-output rates across the monthly task count. Time value is an estimate, not necessarily cash paid or money you can recover.
Read the result in two parts.
- What the numbers say. Compare the costs on the same basis. In the simple comparison, “usable” means accepted without a significant fix. Repaired outputs are excluded from this first-pass measure.
- What still needs checking. A lower estimate does not establish quality, permission to use a tool, or realized savings. Keep the quality and approval checks separate from the cost finding.
Approval stays visible in the result as your own confirmation, separate from the cost finding. If you rename a tool, its approval is cleared and must be confirmed again. Use Edit this comparison to change a comparison, or Edit these charges to update a combined-tool baseline. Changed charges or service-period details require checking the charge boundary again. Start a review begins a fresh draft. Older saved comparisons remain readable; their original editable inputs may not be available.
Keep a copy you can return to.
Use Download decision record (JSON) to save a comparison. Bill and combined-tool results also offer Save this baseline; it saves the same reopenable review format. Then use Open saved review to reopen it. Print finance memo opens your browser's print dialog so you can print or save a PDF. The tool does not automatically save your review between visits.
Source files are read in your browser. No provider account connection or API key is needed. Exported files contain the information in your review, so store and share them deliberately.