Seats vs. a shared API key
Put in your team's numbers and see which way of buying AI is cheaper.
Per-seat plans
$300
Shared API key
$52
Use a shared API key.Saves $248 / month, about 83% less than seats.
API cheaperbreakeven · 87/daySeats cheaper
$0.0165 / message
$1 of Claude Sonnet 4.6 ≈ 151,515 tokens ≈ ~227 pages of reading. what's a token?
A raw API key isn't a product. Someone still has to put an interface, login, and guardrails on top. Budget for that build (or a wrapper tool) before treating these savings as free.
A raw API key still needs an interface, login, and guardrails on top; budget for that before treating the savings as free.