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💰Smart Cost Management

Intelligent budget management, cost optimization, and spending analytics across 400+ AI models

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AI Spending Under Control

Take control of your AI costs with comprehensive budget tracking, spending analysis, and cost visualization. Monitor your AI spending patterns and optimize for efficiency.

Current Month Overview

Within Budget
$247
Spent This Month
$500
Monthly Budget
$253
Remaining
49%
Budget Used

💡 Smart Budgeting

Set monthly/daily limits with automatic alerts

📊 Cost Analytics

Detailed spending breakdown by model and usage

🎯 Optimization

Usage analysis and cost reduction suggestions

💻 Terminal/CLI Commands

Cost Estimation

# Estimate cost for a specific query
hive cost estimate "Write a detailed API documentation for my REST service"

# Estimate with specific model
hive cost estimate "Complex data analysis task" --model claude-3-opus

# Compare costs across models
hive cost estimate "Code review and optimization" --compare

Budget Settings

# Set budget limit for dynamic mode
hive cost settings 0.01 # Set $0.01 budget limit

# View current settings
hive cost settings # Show current budget

# Remove budget limit
hive cost settings 0 # Remove limit

# Note: Budget limits only apply in dynamic mode

Cost Analysis

# View cost analysis
hive analytics costs # Show cost metrics

# View cost per query
hive analytics summary # Includes cost/query

# Dashboard with cost data
hive dashboard executive # Shows spending info

Cost Estimation Tips

# Always estimate before running expensive queries
hive cost estimate "complex analysis task"

# Compare costs across different models
hive cost estimate "your question" --compare

# Tip: Use manual mode to select cheaper models
hive mode manual # Then pick cost-effective models

🔧 IDE Integration (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf)

💡 MCP Tool Name: hive_cost - Monitor and manage AI costs directly from your IDE

Cost Estimation

// MCP Tool Call
hive_cost({
action: "estimate",
question: "Write unit tests"
})

Estimate costs before running

Budget Settings

// MCP Tool Call
hive_cost({
action: "settings",
budget: 500
})

Configure budget limits

Spending Report

// MCP Tool Call
hive_cost({
action: "report",
period: "month"
})

View detailed spending breakdown

Optimization Tips

// MCP Tool Call
hive_cost({
action: "optimize",
current_usage: true
})

Get usage-based cost savings

🛡️ Budget Protection Features

🚨 Budget Tracking

  • 75% threshold: Budget utilization tracking
  • 90% threshold: High usage indicator
  • 100% threshold: Budget limit reached
  • Spike detection: Unusual spending patterns
Budget Status:
📊 Usage: 82% of budget
💰 $410 of $500 spent
📅 18 days remaining

💡 Cost Optimization Engine

  • Model recommendations: Cheaper alternatives with similar quality
  • Usage pattern analysis: Identify expensive workflows
  • Batch processing suggestions: Combine requests for efficiency
  • Token optimization: Reduce prompt length without quality loss
Potential Savings:
🔄 Switch to GPT-4o Mini: -60%
📝 Optimize prompts: -15%
⚡ Batch requests: -25%

📊 Cost Analytics

View Cost Data

hive dashboard executive
Displays cost metrics including total spend and cost per query

hive analytics costs
Shows detailed cost analysis for specified timeframe

💡 Note: Limited Analytics

Current cost analytics are basic. Advanced features like model-by-model breakdowns, category analysis, and trend visualization are planned for future releases.

✅ Cost Management Best Practices

Budget Planning

  • Start with conservative budgets
  • Monitor usage patterns for 2-3 weeks
  • Set daily limits to prevent overspend
  • Use multiple alert thresholds
  • Review and adjust monthly

Cost Optimization

  • Use estimation before expensive queries
  • Choose appropriate models for tasks
  • Optimize prompt lengths
  • Batch similar requests together
  • Regular cost review meetings

💡 Pro Tip: Model Selection Strategy

Use expensive models (Claude Opus, GPT-4) for complex reasoning and cheaper models (GPT-4o Mini, Claude Haiku) for simple tasks. Our cost estimator helps you choose the right model for each task.

💡 Smart AI Spending

Take control of your AI costs with comprehensive budgeting, spending analysis, and usage tracking. Monitor your AI expenses and optimize your spending patterns.

# Start managing your AI costs today
hive cost budget --monthly 500
hive cost report --current
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