Cost control
What does an AI coding agent team actually cost per month?
Agent spend is not one number. It moves with how many tickets you hand over, how much rework each one needs and which model tier implements them. Estimate the range below, then set the cap that stops runs at 100% instead of finding out on the invoice.
Three budget scenarios
Lean
$19 / month
Agents draft, humans do most of the review. Small tickets, tight caps.
- Cost per ticket
- $0
- Agent requests
- 828
- Paid provider calls
- 276
- Suggested monthly cap
- $21
Balanced
$47 / month
Full agent team per ticket with evidence gathering before merge.
- Cost per ticket
- $1
- Agent requests
- 2,100
- Paid provider calls
- 700
- Suggested monthly cap
- $59
Ambitious
$99 / month
Parallel agents, deeper test and security passes, more retries allowed.
- Cost per ticket
- $2
- Agent requests
- 4,590
- Paid provider calls
- 1,404
- Suggested monthly cap
- $139
Illustrative estimates from a fixed model of requests, rework and pass-through provider prices. They are not a quote and not your provider bill — use them to size a cap, then replace them with your own measured spend.
Caps that actually stop work
Workspace-monthly, daily, mission, agent, provider and marketplace caps each block AI and paid provider actions at 100%, with warnings at 50% and 80%.
Three cost types, tracked apart
API/USDC spend, compute and Lovable credits are counted separately, so one runaway model does not hide inside a single blended number.
Spend attached to a ticket
Every executable ticket runs on its own branch, so cost lands against a project, feature and stage instead of a monthly lump.
Estimate before launch
Phloem can audit a repository, propose migrations and estimate budget scenarios before anything runs. Migration execution stays off until approved.
Set the cap before the first run
See how budgets, evidence and agent teams fit together, or compare what each plan includes.