Analysis, histories, playbooks.
Long-form posts on AI vendor pricing - the patterns we see in the receipts. Every claim sourced.
Usage-based billing is the nerf pattern vendors want you to love
Five usage-based shifts in eighteen weeks at five different vendors. They score lower in the gotnerfed index than tier removals, but they probably should not. Here is the underlying math, the behavioral tax, and the contract clauses to read before you sign.
Google Moved the Gemini App Default Model. Google's Own Migration Doc Tells Developers It Costs More.
Gemini 3.5 Flash became the default model for the Gemini app and AI Mode in Search on May 19. Google's developer docs say the new model is more expensive.
Read →The inference economics that guarantee your AI tool will eventually nerf you
What a single GPU hour costs in 2026, what that translates to in tokens, why a $20 subscription cannot support a heavy user, and why every receipt in the gotnerfed index traces back to the same structural problem.
Read →The word "unlimited" has never once meant unlimited in an AI vendor contract
Pricing pages say unlimited. The fair-use clauses in section 4 of the TOS say otherwise. The lifespan of an unlimited claim in AI tooling is 9 to 18 months, and the retirement always follows the same four-phase pattern.
Read →Every silent AI nerf in 2026 (so far): what 20 receipts tell us
Twenty silent vendor changes across 18 AI tools this year - tier removals, billing-model shifts, model swaps, free-tier rugpulls. The patterns say a lot about who's next.
Read →How to predict when your AI tool will nerf you
Every AI tool eventually changes its pricing, caps a tier, or swaps the model. Here are the 6 signals that almost always come first - and what to do when you spot them.
Read →Anatomy of the Claude Code Pro removal
On April 21 2026, Anthropic moved Claude Code out of the $20 Pro tier and into a new $100 Pro Max tier with 14 days notice. The receipt scored 73. Here is why it was predictable, what users did, and what it tells you about the next move.
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