The latest articles on DEV Community by Ranker (@rankerza). https://dev.to/rankerza https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4002082%2F8966a11f-30f2-4970-8efe-7798d1d1eca7.png https://dev.to/rankerza en Ranker Thu, 25 Jun 2026 14:21:05 +0000 https://dev.to/rankerza/token-diet-free-open-source-prompt-token-counter-to-cut-llm-api-costs-4m36 https://dev.to/rankerza/token-diet-free-open-source-prompt-token-counter-to-cut-llm-api-costs-4m36 ai llm productivity opensource Ranker Thu, 25 Jun 2026 09:56:27 +0000 https://dev.to/rankerza/i-built-token-diet-a-free-open-source-prompt-token-counter-to-cut-llm-api-costs-e https://dev.to/rankerza/i-built-token-diet-a-free-open-source-prompt-token-counter-to-cut-llm-api-costs-e <p>Full disclosure: I work on Ranker, and Token Diet is our tool. Sharing it here because it is free, open source, and might genuinely save you money.</p> <h2> The problem </h2> <p>Every token you send to an LLM costs money and eats into the context window. Bloated prompts quietly burn budget, especially anything you run thousands of times a day.</p> <h2> What Token Diet does </h2> <p><a href="https://ranker.co.za/token-diet" rel="noopener noreferrer">Token Diet</a> is a free prompt token counter and optimizer:</p> <ul> <li>Paste a prompt and instantly see its token count (OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini estimates).</li> <li>Trim the filler and compare the before and after side by side.</li> <li>Estimate the monthly savings for your chosen model and call volume.</li> </ul> <p>It runs entirely client side in your browser. No login, and nothing leaves the page.</p> <h2> Open source </h2> <p>The code is MIT licensed and on GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/rankerZA/token-diet" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/rankerZA/token-diet</a></p> <p>There is also an embeddable widget if you want to drop the counter into your own site.</p> <h2> Try it </h2> <p>Live tool: <a href="https://ranker.co.za/token-diet" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://ranker.co.za/token-diet</a></p> <p>Feedback and issues welcome on the repo. If it saves you a few dollars on your API bill, that is the whole point.</p> aiopensourcellmproductivity