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Real Build Cost

What software and AI really cost to run, from published bills and breakdowns.

4 parts

Real Build Cost
Swap your AI model: the same answer costs 1,000× less than it did in 2021.
Full breakdown + sourcesPart 4 · Oct 13, 2026
Real Build Cost
Add a spending cap: a free website got a $104,500 bill for bandwidth.
Full breakdown + sourcesPart 3 · Oct 13, 2026
Real Build Cost
Build a top AI model for $5.6M. DeepSeek did it. GPT-4 cost about $78M.
Full breakdown + sourcesPart 2 · Oct 13, 2026
Real Build Cost
Buy your own servers: Basecamp's cloud bill fell from $3.2M to $1.3M a year.
Full breakdown + sourcesPart 1 · Oct 13, 2026