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brian austin
brian austin

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How I keep my AI costs at $2/month while running multiple projects

#webdev #programming #productivity #ai

How I keep my AI costs at $2/month while running multiple projects

There's a post trending on Hacker News right now about running $10K MRR businesses on a $20/month tech stack. It's getting traction because developers are finally asking the right question: why are we paying so much for software?

I've been obsessing over this for months, specifically around AI costs.

Here's my situation: I run 3 active side projects. All of them use AI. My total AI spend? $2/month.

Let me show you how.

The problem with the default path

Most developers I know defaulted to one of these:

  1. ChatGPT Plus — $20/month. You get a chat interface and limited API access.
  2. Claude.ai Pro — $20/month. Same deal.
  3. Direct Anthropic API — Pay-as-you-go, which sounds good until you're running 3 projects and the bill is $40-80/month.

For a solo developer or a small team, that's real money. If you're in the US, $60/month is annoying. If you're in India, the Philippines, Nigeria, or Indonesia, $60/month is a week's salary.

What I actually use

I use SimplyLouie — a Claude API proxy that costs $2/month flat.

No per-token billing. No surprise invoices. Just a flat $2/month and you get full Claude API access.

Here's the curl command:

curl https://simplylouie.com/api/chat \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain this code: $(cat main.js)"}]
  }'
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It's a drop-in replacement for the Anthropic API for most use cases.

My actual stack across 3 projects

Project 1: Automated code reviews

Every PR in my repos gets an AI review before I merge. I pipe the git diff through the API, get a structured review back. Previously this cost me $12-15/month in API calls. Now it's included in my $2 flat fee.

git diff main...HEAD | curl https://simplylouie.com/api/chat \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $LOUIE_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$(jq -n --arg diff "$(cat)" '{messages: [{role: "user", content: ("Review this PR diff and list issues by severity:\n\n" + $diff)}]}')"
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Project 2: Content summarization pipeline

I summarize customer feedback, support tickets, and changelogs into weekly digests. About 200-300 API calls per week. At Anthropic's direct pricing, that's $8-15/month. At SimplyLouie, it's $0 extra.

Project 3: Documentation generator

I generate and maintain docs from code comments. Long sessions, lots of context. Exactly the kind of usage that makes pay-per-token billing expensive. Flat fee means I don't stress about it.

The $20/month tech stack principle

The HN post about $20/month stacks resonated because it names a real philosophy: every dollar you spend on infrastructure is a dollar not going toward building.

For AI specifically, the math gets stark:

  • $20/month × 12 months = $240/year on ChatGPT
  • $2/month × 12 months = $24/year on SimplyLouie
  • Savings: $216/year per developer

On a team of 5, that's over $1,000/year saved on AI alone.

Who this works for

Solo developers building multiple projects — flat fee means no guilt about using AI heavily.

Developers in emerging markets — SimplyLouie has local pricing: Rs165/month in India, N3,200/month in Nigeria, P112/month in the Philippines. The $20/month ChatGPT price is genuinely unaffordable for many developers worldwide.

Students and learners — using AI to understand code, generate practice problems, get explanations. Pay-per-token billing makes you second-guess every query. Flat fee removes that friction.

Side project builders — when your project isn't making money yet, every cost matters. $2/month AI is a cost you can ignore.

What you don't get

Being honest:

  • No web browsing (pure API, no plugins)
  • No image generation
  • No Claude.ai's beautiful UI — this is API-only

If you want a chat interface and plugins, ChatGPT Plus might be worth $20/month to you. But if you're a developer who wants programmatic API access at minimal cost, this is worth knowing about.

The setup

7-day free trial, no charge until after the trial ends. Then $2/month.

Get an API key at simplylouie.com/developers

For country-specific pricing:

Also: 50% of revenue goes to animal rescue. Every API call funds rescued animals getting veterinary care.

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