> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.revenium.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.revenium.io/track-and-control-costs/analyze-ai-tooling-spend/configure-coding-assistant-billing-models.md). # Configure AI Assistant Pricing Mode Choose whether each team's AI assistant usage counts as real spend (API-rate) or stays an API-equivalent estimate (subscription or seat-based). Each AI assistant you connect is priced one of two ways: as a seat or subscription plan, or at API rates. You answer once per assistant when you connect it, and can change the answer later under **Settings > AI Settings**. Subscription-based AI assistants are heavily subsidized, do not represent real costs, and are **filtered out of logs & traces by default**. If you pay API rates for AI assistant usage, set that option in your team's configuration so those providers are always counted as real spend. AI assistant telemetry can therefore represent two different cost models: * **Subscription or seat-based plans** — your team pays a fixed seat or subscription price. The usage is subsidized and does not represent real cost, so Revenium keeps it on AI Assistant dashboards as an API-equivalent estimate and filters it out of logs and traces by default. * **API-rate usage** — your team pays the provider by API usage, so selected providers count as real spend across Revenium and their transactions always appear, regardless of the filter selection. This setting is configured per team. It does not inherit to child teams. *** ## When to use each mode Use **Subscription or seat-based plans** when the assistant is paid for as a fixed plan, seat, or license. Usage still appears in AI Assistant dashboards for adoption, productivity, API-equivalent value, inactive-seat analysis, and renewal planning. It does not increase real spend in cost reports, traces, budgets, alerts, exports, or APIs. Use **I pay API rates for AI assistance** when the selected assistant traffic is billed by provider API usage. Selected providers count as real spend everywhere Revenium reports cost, including Costs & Revenue, Traces, Budgets, Alerts, exports, reports, and APIs. {% hint style="warning" %} Moving providers into or out of API-rate mode can move active total-cost budget counters immediately when counters are recalculated. Review budget and alert thresholds before saving. {% endhint %} *** ## Configure the setting 1. Open **Settings > AI Settings**. 2. If your account has more than one team, use **Team** to choose the team whose AI assistant pricing mode you want to control. 3. Find **AI Assistant Pricing Mode**. 4. Choose the pricing mode: * **Subscription or seat-based plans** keeps AI assistant usage as API-equivalent estimates on AI Assistant dashboards only. * **I pay API rates for AI assistance** lets selected providers count as real spend. 5. If you choose API-rate mode, complete the two steps the panel shows: * **Step 1 — Acknowledge:** read the real-spend impact warning and check the acknowledgement box. Provider selection stays disabled until you do. * **Step 2 — Providers billed by API usage:** select the providers that are billed at API rates. You must select at least one provider to save API-rate mode. Supported providers are **Claude Code, Claude Cowork, Cursor IDE, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI, and GitHub Copilot**. Claude Cowork is metered by the provider rather than seat-based, but the team setting still controls whether Cowork telemetry counts as real spend in Revenium-wide reporting or stays scoped to AI Assistant analytics. {% hint style="info" %} To switch a team back from API-rate mode to **Subscription or seat-based plans**, Revenium asks you to confirm. Confirming clears all selected API-rate providers and stops counting their usage as real spend; active budget and alert counters are recalculated immediately. {% endhint %} ### Answer once when you connect an assistant When you set up an AI assistant, Revenium asks one question before the setup steps, once per assistant: how you pay for it. * **Pay-as-you-go (billed per token or request)** counts the assistant's usage as real spend everywhere, including Costs & Revenue, budgets, alerts and reports. * **Flat subscription or per-seat plan** shows its usage as an estimated dollar value at pay-as-you-go API rates, labeled as an estimate and not added to real spend, budgets or alerts. You can change the answer later under **Settings > AI Settings**. *** ## What changes after saving When a provider is set to API-rate mode: * Provider usage is included in real spend reporting. * Traces and Costs & Revenue dashboards include the selected provider traffic. * Budgets, alerts, reports, exports, and APIs use the selected provider traffic as real cost. * Active total-cost budget counters may change after recalculation. When a provider is not set to API-rate mode: * Provider usage remains visible on AI Assistant dashboards. * Revenium shows API-equivalent value for ROI and renewal analysis. * The usage does not count as real spend in global cost reporting, budgets, alerts, reports, exports, or APIs. When the totals on the AI Assistants **Overview** or on **AI by Employee** include coding assistants paid for by the seat, a line under those totals says so. It names that this usage is valued at list API rates and that Costs & Revenue leaves it out, so you can read that part of the total as an estimate rather than an invoice charge. *** ## How this interacts with logs & traces filters By default, subscription-based AI assistant usage is filtered out of logs and traces because it is subsidized and does not represent real cost. Pricing mode is the team policy that overrides this: **once a provider is set to API-rate billing, all of its transactions appear regardless of the filter selection**, because they now represent real spend. The per-view AI assistant filters are just different views of the same underlying data — they change what you see in a given view, not what is stored. Your usage data is always captured; the filters and pricing mode only control whether subsidized (subscription) usage is shown alongside real (API-rate) spend. {% hint style="info" %} On the logs and traces views you'll see which providers are currently set to API-rate billing — for example, *"Currently Claude Code, Cursor IDE are configured for API-rate billing."* Those providers' transactions always appear; subscription-based providers are filtered out unless you change the view. {% endhint %} *** ## Related subscription settings Claude Code also has a **Subscription Overview** tab where you can enter tier allocations and seat costs. That tab is for ROI, utilization, and renewal analysis. It does not by itself make Claude Code usage count as real spend. Use the team-level **AI Assistant Pricing Mode** setting when you need to decide whether AI assistant traffic should be treated as real provider spend. *** ## Related pages * [AI Assistant Data Reference](/track-and-control-costs/analyze-ai-tooling-spend/ai-coding-data-reference.md) — the full field set each provider reports. --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. 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