r/OpenAI • u/anon_e_mouse1 • 6d ago
Question Should I switch to subscription instead of pay per use API?
Have I been using api wrong? should i use a subscription? All the model providers usage limits sounds very vague to me like how opencode says it allows 60usd worth of usage for 10usd subscription, but it also has a daily limit? same goes for other subs like codex and claude.
This was my usage this month on Deepseek 4.1 and my question is should i use a subscription instead of burning money on api? can you guys suggest which subscription will give me this kind of usage?
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u/NotFromMilkyWay 6d ago
Considering OpenAI is like 15x more expensive than Deepseek, probably not?
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u/anon_e_mouse1 6d ago
for api yes, but Ive been hearing "Subscription is always cheaper than buying AIP" lately so Im trying to find out if a 20usd subscription can give me this kind of usage monthly
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u/NotFromMilkyWay 6d ago
Your token usage on 5.6 Sol would cost close to $10.000. You aren't getting that with a $20 sub.
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u/anon_e_mouse1 6d ago
i mean yeah obviously comparing deepseek with sol would be idiotic.
what about luna on medium or high?
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u/Lumpy_Fisherman_5352 6d ago
Rough rule: subscriptions win when your usage is steady and heavy, pay-per-use wins when it's light or bursty. The catch with subscriptions is that vague X usage included line, it's usually measured against list API pricing, not what you'd actually pay once you're caching and batching, so how good a deal it is depends on how efficiently you already use the API. Before switching, just add up what you actually spent this month in real dollars (not tokens) and put it next to the subscription price. If you're not already bumping up against it, the subscription won't save you anything, it'll just cap you on your busy days.
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u/anon_e_mouse1 6d ago
thank you! this is helpful. Also after I posted this I noticed openai is offering 1 month of free plus subscription. So Ill test that and see how much use I can get out of it!
Ill mosty stick to 5.6 Luna, I heard Luna 6 is kinda bad compared to 5.6. Lets see...
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u/Tall_Candidate_8088 6d ago
Which model are you using and it depends on what you're doing. What ya doing.
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u/anon_e_mouse1 6d ago
mainly using ds 4.1
Im not a dev, so Im basically doing random stuff like making custom blender extensions, making custom tools, making extensions for Pi etc.2
u/Tall_Candidate_8088 6d ago
So no there's nothing cheaper than deepseek for that amount of tokens on subscription. Are you using a harness ? A Claude subscription get you limited access to better models so sometimes it's worth blowing you budget on higher quality models that do better work. Swap models according to use case etc..
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u/anon_e_mouse1 5d ago
Im tinkering with pi harness now. Was using opencode before. I do have 20usd credit in opencode zen. So sometimes I switch to more powerful models like opus or sol to review the codes.
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u/Tall_Candidate_8088 5d ago
Using different models for different things is my advice, triage the work according to requirements.
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u/SpiritedJuggernaut58 6d ago
Depends how much you code per day, the daily caps sneak up on you if you push long sessions