Pricing & Cost Analysis

Overview

ChatSDK pricing is flexible and scales with your usage. This guide explains pricing tiers, cost factors, and how to optimize expenses.

Pricing Tiers

Free Plan

$0/month

1 project
50 requests/minute
500MB documentation storage
100 chat sessions/month
Community support
Standard rate limits

Best for: Testing, development, small projects

Starter Plan

$25/month

3 projects
100 requests/minute
2GB documentation storage
Unlimited chat sessions
Email support
Basic analytics

Best for: Small production apps, startups

Growth Plan

$99/month

10 projects
500 requests/minute
10GB documentation storage
Priority email support
Advanced analytics
Custom domain (coming soon)

Best for: Growing applications, teams

Pro Plan

$299/month

Unlimited projects
2000 requests/minute
50GB documentation storage
Priority 24/7 support
Team collaboration
Advanced integrations
Custom branding (coming soon)

Best for: High-traffic apps, enterprises

Enterprise Plan

Custom pricing

Custom limits
Dedicated support
SLA guarantees
Custom integrations
On-premise options
Volume discounts

Contact: sales@chatsdk.com

What's Included

All plans include:

Unlimited chat conversations
Context-aware responses
API access
Documentation management
Usage analytics
Monthly invoices

Cost Components

1. API Requests

Rate limits by plan:

Plan	Rate Limit	Cost
Free	50 req/min	Included
Starter	100 req/min	Included
Growth	500 req/min	Included
Pro	2000 req/min	Included
Enterprise	Custom	Custom

2. Documentation Storage

Storage limits:

Plan	Storage	Overage Cost
Free	500MB	$0.05/GB/month
Starter	2GB	$0.05/GB/month
Growth	10GB	$0.05/GB/month
Pro	50GB	$0.05/GB/month
Enterprise	Custom	Custom

3. AI Inference Costs

Important: AI inference costs are NOT included in monthly plans. You pay separately for actual LLM usage.

Claude API Pricing

Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Recommended for production):

Input tokens: $3.00 per 1M tokens
Output tokens: $15.00 per 1M tokens
Prompt Caching: 90% savings on repeated context
Batch API: 50% discount on non-realtime requests

Claude Haiku 3 (Budget option):

Input tokens: $0.25 per 1M tokens
Output tokens: $1.25 per 1M tokens
Faster, cheaper, less capable

Example: A typical chat with 2000 tokens (input + output) costs:

Haiku: $0.002 per chat (~$60/month for 30,000 chats)
Sonnet: $0.009 per chat (~$270/month for 30,000 chats)

4. Embeddings (Optional)

OpenAI Embeddings (used for document vectorization):

text-embedding-3-small: $0.02 per 1M tokens
text-embedding-3-large: $0.13 per 1M tokens

Example: Processing 1000 documents (500K tokens total)

Using text-embedding-3-small: $0.01 (one-time)

5. Team Members

Included for free on Pro plan. Available on lower plans:

Starter: First 3 members free, $5/additional member
Growth: First 5 members free, $5/additional member

6. Support

Free: Community support

Starter+: Email support included

Pro: 24/7 priority support included

Enterprise: Dedicated support included

Cost Scenarios

Scenario 1: Early Development

Monthly costs: $0-50

Service	Cost
ChatSDK Free Plan	$0
Claude API (test)	$0-5
Embeddings (docs)	$0-2
Total	$0-7

Usage:

100-500 test messages/month
< 100 documents
Development only

Scenario 2: Small Production App

Monthly costs: $100-300

Service	Cost
ChatSDK Starter Plan	$25
Claude Sonnet ($3/$15 per M)	$50-150
Embeddings (docs)	$1-5
Infrastructure*	$20-50
Total	$96-230

Usage:

300-1000 active users
10-30 daily chat sessions
200-500 documents
~2000 tokens per chat

Token calculation:

30 chats/day × 30 days = 900 chats
900 × 2000 tokens = 1.8M tokens
Cost: (40% input × 1.8M × $3) + (60% output × 1.8M × $15) = $18-24/month

Scenario 3: Growing App (1K-10K Users)

Monthly costs: $500-1000

Service	Cost
ChatSDK Growth Plan	$99
Claude Sonnet	$200-500
Embeddings	$5-15
Infrastructure	$100-200
Support (if needed)	$0-100
Total	$404-914

Usage:

5K-10K active users
100-200 daily chats
1000-2000 documents
More complex queries

Scenario 4: Large Production (10K+ Users)

Monthly costs: $1500-3000+

Service	Cost
ChatSDK Pro Plan	$299
Claude Sonnet	$1000-2000
Embeddings	$20-50
Infrastructure	$200-500
Database & Storage	$100-200
Monitoring & Support	$100-200
Total	$1719-3249+

Usage:

50K+ active users
500-1000 daily chats
5000+ documents
Enterprise features

Cost Optimization Strategies

1. Intelligent Model Routing

Route requests to appropriate model based on complexity:

typescript

if (isSimpleQuery(message)) {
  use: 'claude-haiku-3'      // $0.25/$1.25 per M
} else {
  use: 'claude-sonnet-4.5'   // $3/$15 per M
}

Potential savings: 40-60% on simple queries

2. Prompt Caching

Cache repeated context (product docs, system prompts):

typescript

const response = await anthropic.messages.create({
  model: 'claude-sonnet-4.5',
  system: [
    {
      type: "text",
      text: productDocs,
      cache_control: { type: "ephemeral" }  // Cached
    }
  ],
  messages: [...]
});

Potential savings: 90% on cached tokens (typically 50-70% of total input)

Example: If docs are 10K tokens, 50 chats with cached docs:

Normal cost: 50 chats × 10K tokens × $3/M = $1.50
Cached cost: 10K tokens × $3/M × 0.1 = $0.03
Savings: $1.47 per 50 chats

3. Batch API for Async Operations

Use Batch API for non-realtime requests:

Document summarization
Batch analytics
Scheduled reports

Savings: 50% discount on batch requests

4. Efficient Chunking

Optimize document chunking to reduce embeddings:

Larger chunks (1000-1500 tokens) = fewer embeddings
Smart overlap (200 tokens) maintains context
Remove boilerplate before chunking

Potential savings: 30-40% fewer embeddings

5. Metadata Filtering

Use metadata filters to narrow vector search:

typescript

await vectorDB.query({
  vector: embedding,
  topK: 5,
  filter: {
    projectId: 'abc123',
    docType: 'user-guide',  // Narrow scope
  }
});

Benefits: Faster queries, better relevance, lower costs

6. Response Caching

Cache common questions:

typescript

const cache = new Map();
const cacheKey = hash(message + context);

if (cache.has(cacheKey)) {
  return cache.get(cacheKey);
}

const response = await generateResponse(message);
cache.set(cacheKey, response);
return response;

Potential savings: 10-20% on LLM costs

Example Monthly Budgets

Startup (Pre-Revenue)

Budget: $100/month

ChatSDK Starter: $25
Claude API: $50
Embeddings: $5
Infrastructure: $20
Total: $100

Growing Startup ($10K MRR)

Budget: $500/month

ChatSDK Growth: $99
Claude API: $250
Embeddings: $10
Infrastructure: $100
Buffer: $41
Total: $500

Scaling Company ($100K MRR)

Budget: $2000/month

ChatSDK Pro: $299
Claude API: $1000
Embeddings: $30
Infrastructure: $400
Support & Monitoring: $271
Total: $2000

Enterprise ($1M+ MRR)

Budget: Custom

ChatSDK Enterprise: Custom
Claude API: $5000+
Embeddings: $100+
Infrastructure: $1000+
Support & Custom Features: $2000+
Total: $10K+/month

Billing & Invoicing

Invoice Frequency

Monthly invoices (first day of month)
Covers usage from previous month
Paid via credit card or wire transfer

Invoice Contents

ChatSDK plan fees
Additional AI inference costs
Storage overages
Support fees (if applicable)

Payment Methods

Credit Card: Visa, Mastercard, American Express
Wire Transfer: For Enterprise customers
Monthly or Annual billing (get 15% discount with annual)

Changing Plans

Upgrade anytime (prorated charge)
Downgrade at month end
No long-term contracts (except Enterprise)

FAQs

Q: Can I negotiate custom pricing?

A: Yes! Email sales@chatsdk.com for volume discounts, especially if you're committing to annual plans.

Q: Are there discounts for non-profits?

A: Contact support@chatsdk.com. We offer 50% discounts for qualified non-profits.

Q: What happens if I exceed my rate limit?

A: Your requests are rate-limited (429 response). No overage charges, but service is restricted. Upgrade your plan to increase the limit.

Q: Can I use my own LLM provider?

A: Currently, Claude API is required. Custom LLM support is on our roadmap.

Q: Is there a free trial?

A: Yes! Free Plan lets you test with full features. No credit card required.

Q: What's included in the "infrastructure" cost?

A: Your own servers/hosting for the React app. ChatSDK backend is included in the plan.

Q: Do you offer credits?

A: Yes! New customers get $5 credits for the first month.

Cost Comparison with Alternatives

ChatSDK vs Building In-House

Feature	ChatSDK	In-House	Savings
Initial Setup	< 1 hour	4-8 weeks	8-16 weeks engineer time
Monthly Cost	$25-299	$5,000-15,000	$4,700-14,975
Maintenance	Included	Dedicated team	Full engineer
Support	24/7	Internal only	Faster resolution
Security	Enterprise-grade	Custom	Better compliance

Conclusion: ChatSDK is 200-600x cheaper than building in-house.

Next Steps

Start with Free Plan - No credit card required
Explore Pro Features - See what you get
Review Security - Understand data protection
Contact Sales - Custom pricing questions

Admin UI - Manage your account
API Key Management - Track usage per key
Analytics - Monitor costs in real-time

Pricing & Cost Analysis ​

Overview ​

Pricing Tiers ​

Free Plan ​

Starter Plan ​

Growth Plan ​

Pro Plan ​

Enterprise Plan ​

What's Included ​

Cost Components ​

1. API Requests ​

2. Documentation Storage ​

3. AI Inference Costs ​

Claude API Pricing ​

4. Embeddings (Optional) ​

5. Team Members ​

6. Support ​

Cost Scenarios ​

Scenario 1: Early Development ​

Scenario 2: Small Production App ​

Scenario 3: Growing App (1K-10K Users) ​

Scenario 4: Large Production (10K+ Users) ​

Cost Optimization Strategies ​

1. Intelligent Model Routing ​

2. Prompt Caching ​

3. Batch API for Async Operations ​

4. Efficient Chunking ​

5. Metadata Filtering ​

6. Response Caching ​

Example Monthly Budgets ​

Startup (Pre-Revenue) ​

Growing Startup ($10K MRR) ​

Scaling Company ($100K MRR) ​

Enterprise ($1M+ MRR) ​

Billing & Invoicing ​

Invoice Frequency ​

Invoice Contents ​

Payment Methods ​

Changing Plans ​

FAQs ​

Q: Can I negotiate custom pricing? ​

Q: Are there discounts for non-profits? ​

Q: What happens if I exceed my rate limit? ​

Q: Can I use my own LLM provider? ​

Q: Is there a free trial? ​

Q: What's included in the "infrastructure" cost? ​

Q: Do you offer credits? ​

Cost Comparison with Alternatives ​

ChatSDK vs Building In-House ​

Next Steps ​

Related Documentation ​

Pricing & Cost Analysis

Overview

Pricing Tiers

Free Plan

Starter Plan

Growth Plan

Pro Plan

Enterprise Plan

What's Included

Cost Components

1. API Requests

2. Documentation Storage

3. AI Inference Costs

Claude API Pricing

4. Embeddings (Optional)

5. Team Members

6. Support

Cost Scenarios

Scenario 1: Early Development

Scenario 2: Small Production App

Scenario 3: Growing App (1K-10K Users)

Scenario 4: Large Production (10K+ Users)

Cost Optimization Strategies

1. Intelligent Model Routing

2. Prompt Caching

3. Batch API for Async Operations

4. Efficient Chunking

5. Metadata Filtering

6. Response Caching

Example Monthly Budgets

Startup (Pre-Revenue)

Growing Startup ($10K MRR)

Scaling Company ($100K MRR)

Enterprise ($1M+ MRR)

Billing & Invoicing

Invoice Frequency

Invoice Contents

Payment Methods

Changing Plans

FAQs

Q: Can I negotiate custom pricing?

Q: Are there discounts for non-profits?

Q: What happens if I exceed my rate limit?

Q: Can I use my own LLM provider?

Q: Is there a free trial?

Q: What's included in the "infrastructure" cost?

Q: Do you offer credits?

Cost Comparison with Alternatives

ChatSDK vs Building In-House

Next Steps

Related Documentation