Architectural Cost Optimization

Once the TCO sheet shows that token spend is the dominant cost, the usual reaction is to negotiate a discount or switch to a cheaper model. Both help, but neither changes the shape of the bill. The larger savings come from architecture: sending fewer requests, sending cheaper requests, and sending shorter requests. Patterns like these are commonly cited as capable of cutting monthly LLM API bills by roughly 40–60% without a collapse in quality. Treat that range as a direction, not a promise. Your result depends on your traffic and must be measured on your own data.…