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points by internet_points 2 days ago | 0 comments

1) What AI subscriptions are you personally paying for? (Claude, ChatGPT/Codex, Cursor, etc)

None.

2) Are you using models outside (or instead) of those subscriptions? For example, pay-as-you-go APIs, OpenRouter, or locally hosted models.

I have a few ChatGPT API credits. I think I've payed at most $40 in one year, using 5.4.

3) What coding harnesses and interfaces are you using? Are you sticking with the default CLIs or IDE integrations, or using alternatives like OpenCode, Pi, Aider, Muse Code, or custom-built harnesses?

Just gptel in a firejailed Emacs. I don't do tool calling. Mostly just code review (have personal scripts set up to get diffs and automatically redact stuff).

4) Are you using any agent orchestration or swarm tools?

No.

5) Are you using broader agent platforms like OpenClaw / Hermes Agent / Grok bot / Dots / Muse?

No.

I'd like to try agent stuff using a local model, but it seems quite expensive to set up. I don't feel comfortable giving so much access to OpenAI/Anthropic.

[–] sigmoid10 2 days ago

How did you end up with only $40 in API cost despite using AI daily?

[–] internet_points 2 days ago

Were you looking at another comment? I had to reread what I wrote, and I can't understand where you'd get the impression that I use it that much. I don't even use it daily (looking at my stats, it seems I used it less than every other day).

gpt5.4 pricing per million tokens is Input: $2.50 Cached input: $0.25 Output: $15.00

I tried re-running a rather long code review request I had lying around, and gptel says it spent 2.2k tokens; I don't know if that's input or output or what, but if we say it's output since that's the most expensive, then that single review cost me just $0.033.

[–] sigmoid10 2 days ago

I know about the prices and that's why I wondered how you could possibly give an answer to these questions. But now I'm just wondering why you felt compelled to answer here when OP specifically asked about day-to-day AI use and agentic workflows and you seem to have experience with neither.

[–] internet_points 1 day ago

OP said "I'm curious how people on HN are using AI day to day" and I gave an honest answer. If the answers were only from those using agentic setups daily, that would give a skewed picture. (And I do have some experience with agentic coding, but for now I'm staying away from it; mainly because I don't trust it with my data and I can't quite justify the cost of a local setup.)

But before this thread gets too deep, maybe you want to ask https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50376720 why they feel compelled to answer here. Or https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50375782 . Or https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50367460 . Since you were wondering.