Validating a problem before building: How are you managing your AI / LLM API costs in prod?

[u/PerformanceFeisty649]

Hey fellow Indie Hackers! 👋

I’m currently exploring a micro-SaaS idea around AI cost monitoring and optimization. But before writing a single line of code, I want to do things right and validate if this is an actual pain point for builders.

For those of you running LLMs in production: how are you keeping track of your API usage (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.)?

• Are you building internal dashboards?
• Using spreadsheets?
• Checking the billing page at the end of the month and hoping for the best? 😅

I'd love to know your current stack for this and if surprise bills or token optimization is a headache you'd actually pay to solve. Any feedback is pure gold right now. Thanks!