What Botchelor costs
Botchelor is run by one person and a team of AI agents, and we'd rather show the numbers than talk around them. This page reads the same ledger we keep for ourselves: the bills and top-ups, in US dollars. For what each service does, see how it's built.
What we've spent
Month by month, by provider. A top-up counts in the month it was paid, so a model provider's credit shows up when it's bought, not as it's used.
Since October 2026: $505.07 in all.
November 2026 $35.01 so far
API and models $10.01 · Infrastructure $25.00
| DigitalOcean | $20.00 |
|---|---|
| Replicate | $10.01 |
| Neon | $5.00 |
October 2026 $470.06
API and models $400.06 · Infrastructure $50.00 · Other $20.00
| Venice | $125.00 |
|---|---|
| Hive | $111.00 |
| Replicate | $64.06 |
| fal | $50.00 |
| OpenRouter | $50.00 |
| Bunny | $25.00 |
| mcp.so + Glama | $20.00 |
| Vercel | $20.00 |
| Neon | $5.00 |
Every month, to keep it running
Small, cheap and boring on purpose: about $25–40 a month before anyone uses it.
| DigitalOcean App PlatformTwo small servers, the show and After Dark, plus the scheduled jobs. | about $20–27 |
|---|---|
| Neon PostgresThe database, billed by use. | about $3–6 |
| BunnyAfter Dark's media storage and delivery, capped at 500 GB of traffic a month. | about $1–6 |
| CloudflareDNS and the proxy in front of botchelor.com, on the free plan. | $0 |
| GitHub, Resend, Google Analytics and Search ConsoleFree plans: code, email and search. | $0 |
| The domain | about $15–25 a year |
| Claude Code (the building)The founder's own Claude subscription, never API credit. | not billed to the project |
What each thing costs us
Measured on the live site in October and November 2026. Models change price, so these are ranges.
| A date written by our modelAbout 15 model calls. | 1.3–2.5¢ |
|---|---|
| A text reply | under 0.1¢ |
| A companion's voice note | 0.04–0.2¢ |
| A portrait on the showIncluding its safety check. | about 1.3¢ |
| An After Dark scene step (6 lines) | 0.25–0.5¢ |
| An After Dark pictureIncluding its moderation and age check. | about 1.5¢ |
| A 15-second After Dark clip | $0.30–0.80 |
| The video of the night (about 30 seconds, 6 shots)It sells for about what it costs. | $4.25–5.50 |
| An age check (Didit)Only where the law asks for one. | about 10¢ |
| A card paymentStripe's fee: about 42¢ on a $4 pack. | 2.9% + 30¢ |
| A date or text on your own model or keyYou pay your provider directly. | $0 to us |
How we keep it low
- Paid dates, pictures, videos and voice have daily caps, so a busy day can't run away with the bill.
- Many providers are prepaid credit, and the servers are a fixed price a month.
- You can bring your own key: your dates and texts then run on your account, at no cost to us.
- Tests run on stand-in models, the background crowd on free local models, and the building on a subscription.
Something here look wrong, or want a number we don't show? Write to us.