--- id: "6.7" title: "Cost per brand" dept: ai-and-models status: draft owner: Param branded: false last_verified: 2026-10-26 sources: - "brew origin/main b91e364: build.js:113-115 and 1060-1080, rewrite-pot.js:14-24 and 71, budget.js:12-15, deploy.sh:21 and 41, tools/prod-env.sh:9, treg.js:45 and 82 and 121, apify.js:40, shelf.js:69, listen-watch.js:684, market-pulse.js:318, live-watch.js:23, server.js:564-565, data/engines.json, data/higgsfield-routes.json, ai.js:8, gemini-client.js:16-17" - "memory brew-model-compare-2026-10-20, brew-lean-pipeline, brew-pro-switch-and-flush, brew-move-freshness, brew-connect-refresh, brew-jam-v2, brew-sloosh-finals, brew-viral-remakes, brew-apify-watch, treg-tool-catalog, brew-brand-book, brew-setup-v2, keep-all-moves, brew-gemini-provider, brew-pricing-parked, brew-storage, no-spend-while-building" --- # Cost per brand ## Answer What one brand costs Brew in models and outside data, stage by stage, from the read to Plays, drafts, Studio makes and finals, with every cap that holds it and every figure that has been measured; the monthly total is not measured yet, so it is a proposal. ## Today ### Prices the meter uses | Model | $ per million tokens in, out | Source | |---|---|---| | claude-opus-5-5 | 4, 20 | [src: brew/ai.js:8] | | claude-sonnet-5-5 | 2, 10 | [src: brew/ai.js:8] | | gemini-3.5-flash | 0.5, 3 | [src: brew/gemini-client.js:16] | | gemini-3.1-pro-preview | 2, 12 | [src: brew/gemini-client.js:16] | | Web search | $0.01 on Claude, $0.014 a grounded query on Gemini | [src: brew/ai.js:13] [src: brew/gemini-client.js:17] | These are list prices before Google credits [src: brew/gemini-client.js:15]. Today Vertex is paid by credits: $20,763 of $25,000 left on 16 Oct [src: memory brew-gemini-provider]. ### Stage by stage | Stage | Measured | Cap | Source | |---|---|---|---| | **Read**, the first look at a store | Not measured as one figure | treg day cap $40 across all brands; Apify $10 a brand a month | [src: brew/tools/prod-env.sh:9] [src: brew/shelf.js:69] | | **Plays**, about 60 to 65 a brand, all kept | Pro median $0.18 a Play on Arata; Opus median $0.83; Flash, Cozy, 65 Plays for $6.40 | `BUILD_CAP_USD` $45 a build; $150 for a brand marked Pro; `DAILY_BUILD_CAP_USD` $250 across brands | [src: memory keep-all-moves] [src: memory brew-model-compare-2026-10-20] [src: brew/rewrite-pot.js:19] [src: brew/build.js:113-115] [src: brew/tools/prod-env.sh:9] | | Play overhead | A run costs about 1.5 times the Play's own call, with search, check and fix | | [src: brew/rewrite-pot.js:24] | | Before the lean pipeline | $1.51 a Play, most of it about 42,000 thinking tokens | | [src: memory brew-lean-pipeline] | | **Keeping Plays fresh** | Estimate $0.10 a Play on Flash, $0.40 on Pro, $0.60 on Claude | Weekly pot a brand: $10 Flash, $40 Pro, $50 Claude; `BRAND_WEEK_CAP_USD` overrides | [src: brew/rewrite-pot.js:19-21] [src: brew/rewrite-pot.js:71] | | First connected account | | $40 a run, `CONNECT_CAP_USD` | [src: brew/build.js:1070] [src: memory brew-connect-refresh] | | A learnings upload | | $30, `LEARN_CAP_USD` | [src: brew/build.js:1075] | | Connected re-read rewrites | | $30 a brand a run, weekly, `LIVE_CAP_USD` | [src: brew/build.js:1076] [src: memory brew-move-freshness] | | Site check refresh | | $60 by hand, $10 automatic | [src: brew/build.js:1069] | | **Watching** | AI answers check about $0.50 a weekly run; viral finder $0.015 to $0.04 treg a weekly run; Brand Book enrichment about $0.01 | Listening $0.60 a run; pulse $3 a run; enrichment $0.50 | [src: brew/live-watch.js:23] [src: memory brew-viral-remakes] [src: memory brew-brand-book] [src: brew/listen-watch.js:684] [src: brew/market-pulse.js:318] | | Outside data in a month | Estimate about $10 of treg a brand | Apify $10 a brand a month | [src: memory treg-tool-catalog] [src: brew/shelf.js:69] | | **Drafts**, automatic | Picture $0.04, about $0.039 on Flash; Veo $0.15 a second; voice $0.002 | Daily units across brands: text 1,500, image 1,500, video 60; a brand's share is a third, video 20 a brand; 40 pictures a day kept for the team | [src: brew/data/engines.json] [src: brew/deploy.sh:21] [src: brew/budget.js:12-15] [src: brew/tools/prod-env.sh:9] [src: brew/server.js:564-565] | | **Studio makes**, on a yes | About $0.28 a static ad; on Arata, 23 Oct: product shot $0.10, preset $0.10, Kling 5 s $0.40, Seedance UGC 10 s $3.02 | Every make shows its price and needs `confirmUsd` | [src: memory brew-jam-v2] | | **Finals**, on a yes | Image 2.01 credits; reel 45.071 credits; Arata viral reel 80.8 credits | Credits a day: 300 across brands, 100 a brand; Sloosh's own daily limit, raised to 200 on 21 Oct | [src: memory brew-sloosh-finals] [src: memory brew-viral-remakes] [src: brew/budget.js:13-15] | | **Jam and chat** | No dollar meter | Daily text units only | [src: brew/budget.js:12-15] | | One-time | Style example pictures, 43 for $1.64, shared by all brands | | [src: memory brew-setup-v2] | ### Where spend is recorded - AI calls: `meter.byTag` per server, and the build's day total in `_brew/spend-day.json` [src: brew/ai.js:51] [src: brew/build.js:120-124]. - treg and Apify: per brand and month in `brands//spend/.json` [src: brew/treg.js:121] [src: memory brew-apify-watch]. - Daily units: `_brew/usage-day.json`, shared across instances [src: brew/budget.js:1-5]. ## Tomorrow | Item | Version | Tag | |---|---|---| | Keep all Plays; cut the cost of each one, never the count | v1 | Stays [src: memory keep-all-moves] | | One cost line per brand per month, all sources, in dollars, on the ops page | v1 | New | | Jam calls metered in dollars | v1 | New | | A monthly ceiling per brand that pauses background work and says so | v2 | New | | Cost per brand set per plan once pricing is decided: free read, 14-day trial, plans with credits | v3 | New, parked until after the design partnership [src: memory brew-pricing-parked] | | Sloosh credits shown as dollars to the team | v1 | Changes | ## How we do it 1. Read a brand's outside-data spend for a month: ```bash gsutil cat gs://brew-prototype/brands//spend/2026-10.json | jq '.usd, (.rows | group_by(.tag) | map({tag: .[0].tag, usd: (map(.usd) | add)}))' ``` On Cloud SQL, the same rows are objects under the same path [src: memory brew-storage]. 2. Before a model switch, raise the caps that follow it: `BUILD_CAP_USD`, `BRAND_WEEK_CAP_USD` [src: memory brew-pro-switch-and-flush]. 3. Never run paid generations while building; ask before a paid probe [src: memory no-spend-while-building]. 4. New paid work gets a cap in env, a share per brand, and a tag that books it to the brand. ## Numbers | Metric | Definition | Value | Status | |---|---|---|---| | Cost per Play | Median dollars of a Play's own call | $0.18 Pro, $0.83 Opus, about $0.10 Flash | Measured [src: memory brew-model-compare-2026-10-20] [src: brew/rewrite-pot.js:19] | | First build | Every Play written once | Proposed: about $18 on Pro, from 65 Plays at $0.18 and 1.5 overhead; under the $45 cap | Proposed | | First build on Opus | same | Proposed: about $80 at $0.83 and 1.5 overhead, over the $45 cap, so the cap must rise first | Proposed | | Monthly running cost a brand | Plays fresh plus watching plus outside data plus drafts | Proposed: about $180 at most before drafts, from 4 weeks of the Pro pot at $40, about $10 of treg, up to $10 of Apify and about $2 of AI answers checks; drafts add up to $20 a day at the brand's picture share; not measured | Proposed | | Monthly running cost, measured | Sum of a brand's spend files and its AI tags | not measured | Proposed | | Cost per Studio make | Dollars per take | $0.10 to $3.02 on Arata | Measured [src: memory brew-jam-v2] | ## Open 1. **Measure one real month.** No brand has a measured monthly total. Proposal: add AI dollars per brand to the spend file, then report October and November for Arata, Nutrova and Cozy. 2. **What is a Sloosh credit in dollars?** Proposal: write the Pro plan price into Finance and convert finals on the ops page. 3. **Read cost.** The first read has no single figure. Proposal: tag every read call `reader-` and sum it on the next new brand. 4. **Cap for Plays on Opus.** Proposal: if Plays go back to Opus, set `BUILD_CAP_USD` to $90 for that deploy.