The $120 wake-up call
Got this notification from Cursor yesterday: “We saved you $120 this month.”
I’m paying $20. Using $140 worth of compute.
My first thought wasn’t “sweet deal.” It was “oh fuck, this can’t last.”
Here’s what’s happening. I pay for Claude Pro and Cursor. Used to pay for ChatGPT Plus too. Every time I’ve tested the API pricing for my actual usage, I blow past those monthly fees in days.
We’re all getting subsidized by investor money. Just like Uber in 2015. Just like DoorDash when they started.
We’re walking into the same trap again
The scary part isn’t the eventual price hikes. It’s realizing how dependent I’ve become.
I used to think through problems first, then code. Now I catch myself asking Claude to debug random shit I could figure out in 5 minutes.
That’s “vibe coding.” Mindless prompting. And it’s expensive as hell when you’re paying per token.
The companies burning investor cash to get us hooked aren’t charities. They’re building dependency. Once we’ve restructured our entire workflow around these tools, they’ve got us.
How I’m fighting back
So I’m changing how I work. Instead of asking AI to fix small bugs, I spend time understanding the whole feature first. Plan the implementation step by step. Then give one massive, detailed prompt.
Get working code on the first try instead of going back and forth 10 times.
But what scares me most? Junior developers learning to code with AI from day one. When these subsidies end and prices spike 5x, do they even know how to think through problems without Claude?
Keep your raw coding skills sharp. You’re gonna need them when the free lunch ends.
What’s your backup plan when AI gets expensive?