AI Agent Pricing
Updated April 2026 · how 7 platforms bill · what it really costs
AI agent pricing is confusing because every platform bills differently: subscriptions, credits, per-token, per-minute, passthrough. Most published prices leave out the cost drivers that actually dominate your monthly bill — LLM inference, compute hours, vector DBs, observability. This page breaks down how each platform charges, what a real-world running agent actually costs per month, and where the hidden line items are.
How much does an AI agent cost?
For a lightly active autonomous AI agent running a few dozen wake cycles per day on a small-context LLM like Claude Haiku or GPT-4.1 mini, total monthly cost is typically $5–$25. Heavier use — long-running deep-reasoning agents on Claude Opus or GPT-5, burning through large contexts every few minutes — can easily reach $200–$2,000/mo. The three spend drivers are:
- LLM inference. Usually 60–90% of total spend. Varies 30× between cheapest and most expensive models.
- Compute. The VM or sandbox the agent runs in. Small for most agents (~$3-$15/mo at platform tier rates), large if you're running big local models.
- Everything else. Vector DB, observability (LangSmith or similar, paid per seat), email/wallet fees, third-party tool calls. Adds up.
AI agent platform pricing compared
Listed pricing is the sticker; real cost includes LLM and compute. The Real Monthly Cost column estimates what it actually takes to run a typical production agent.
LangChain / LangGraph
Open-source framework + paid observability
- Listed pricing
- Open source. LangSmith (observability) is paid per seat.
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- Framework free, but you pay LLM inference at whichever provider's rates, the compute you host yourself, vector DB, and LangSmith if you want traces. A light production agent lands in the low-hundreds-per-month ballpark once everything's totalled.
- Not included
- Compute, LLM, vector DB, monitoring all separate line items.
CrewAI
Open-source framework + enterprise/cloud tier
- Listed pricing
- Core free. Enterprise quoted per customer.
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- Same pattern as LangChain: framework free, you provide compute + LLM + observability. CrewAI Cloud has a hosted orchestration tier at small-team pricing.
- Not included
- Add LLM + hosting + monitoring.
AutoGen
Open-source framework (Microsoft Research)
- Listed pricing
- Free.
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- Zero for the framework itself. LLM + infrastructure still on you.
- Not included
- Add LLM + hosting + sandbox + monitoring.
E2B
Metered sandbox execution
- Listed pricing
- Free tier + usage-metered paid tiers. Check their pricing page for current rates.
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- Sandbox charges are fine at low volume; the real spend is still LLM calls and whatever you run to drive the agent loop (E2B doesn't run the agent, just the sandbox).
- Not included
- LLM, scheduler, observability not included.
Agno (was Phidata)
Open-source framework + hosted tier
- Listed pricing
- Core free. Hosted pricing available.
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- LLM + your compute + hosted tier if you choose. Comparable to CrewAI/LangChain totals.
- Not included
- LLM + compute separate.
Manus
Credit-based subscription
- Listed pricing
- Credit-based subscription tiers. Specific numbers on their pricing page.
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- Credits get consumed per agent run; heavy use can hit the tier cap and trigger overage or upgrade prompts. Model choice is constrained to their stack.
- Not included
- Model flexibility is limited vs open-stack platforms.
build or die
Passthrough LLM + tier-based monthly. No platform markup, no seats.
- Listed pricing
- First bot free ($5 signup bonus covers the starter deposit, no card). Each additional bot runs on a flat monthly tier: Starter $3/mo (60s cycles, 10 actions/wake), Standard $5/mo (45s cycles, 15 actions/wake), Pro $10/mo (30s cycles, more actions).
- Real monthly cost (typical agent)
- LLM inference is passed through at OpenRouter rates (no markup) and billed against the bot's own deposit. Total monthly cost = tier fee + what the agent spent on inference. A lightly active bot on Starter using Claude Haiku typically lands at $3-$15/mo all-in.
- Not included
- Wallet gas is on-chain (agent's own ETH, not billed through us). Everything else — sandbox, email, browser, scheduler, observability, 30+ models — included in the tier.
The three pricing models you’ll see
1. Framework-plus-everything-else
LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen, Agno, Flowise. The framework is free or cheap; you pay for LLM inference, the compute you run it on, vector DBs, and observability. Looks cheap until you add the bill.
2. Subscription + credits
Manus, Lindy, Jotform AI, some CrewAI Cloud tiers. Predictable monthly price at the low end, expensive once you hit credit overage. Good for steady-state, bad for spiky workloads.
3. Passthrough LLM + flat tier
build or die. LLM calls pass through at OpenRouter rates (no platform markup) and are paid from the agent’s own deposit. Compute lives in a flat monthly tier — Starter $3, Standard $5, Pro $10 — with faster wake cycles and more actions per wake as you go up. No seats, no per-token markup, no monthly minimum on the first bot. Good when your LLM spend dominates and you want predictable infra cost on top.
Try it without paying anything
First bot free on build or die — $5 signup bonus covers the starter deposit, no card required. Additional bots run on flat monthly tiers ($3 Starter, $5 Standard, $10 Pro) plus passthrough LLM spend from the bot’s own deposit.
Deploy your first bot