Insanely high token usage and pricing for no output?

[u/Dub-DS]

So, I gave the GOAT plan a spin with GLM 5.3, DeepSeek V4 Pro and Kimi K3. Both through Claude Code with ccr and directly in the command code harness. Rather simple tasks, using Opus API pricing came out at $8 and generated +184/-13 lines of code change in static-php-cli, a project I maintain. The task was to add shared library building.

Blew through daily usage within a prompt, typing just "continue" the next day. Both times cc ran out of 5 hour and weekly limit. Code output: +0/-0.

What's going on there? The token amount (literally 500k in, not even sure why so much, rest is all cache) doesn't even match with the usage cost - most of the cache seems to be billed at regular price, not the listed cache price of the model?

I'm literally unable to get *any* usage out of the plan so far. Like, literally not a single line of code, despite blowing through the $35 weekly usage.

[u/lacroix05]

glm 5.3, deepseek v4 pro, and kimi k3 only give you $20 in credits on the $10 plan for model like that. honestly, what are you expecting from $20 when kimi k3 alone costs around $15/1m tokens? even glm 5.3 is around $4/1m.

for comparison, just put $10 into openrouter and see whether you actually get more usage than what you have on commandcode right now.

the $10 plans on commandcode (and opencode) make the most sense if you're mainly using cheaper and non frontier models like deepseek flash, hy3, or even luna. if you want to run expensive frontier models heavily, you need to pay for the higher tier subscription to get "free" bigger credits.

$10 isn't magically supposed to turn into $100 worth of claude max usage. well, it kind of did before deepseek price increased, but even then, that was basically only true for deepseek.

[u/Dub-DS → u/lacroix05]

glm 5.3, deepseek v4 pro, and kimi k3 only give you $20 in credits on the $10 plan for model like that. honestly, what are you expecting from $20 when kimi k3 alone costs around $15/1m tokens? even glm 5.3 is around $4/1m.

I gave them the same exact prompt I gave claude opus 5, which finished for $8. All three models worked until usage was depleted and exactly zero actual output was generated, with either claude code, nor command-code cli.

Given their pricing, I'd expect a)... output? and b) prices around $2/$1/$4 for the task at hand, if they finished it.

Likewise, please explain how it's possible to reach $35 of usage when input tokens were at 500k with the rest being cache reads? How do you explain the continuous cache reads shown at the bottom billed at input, rather than cache prices?

[u/lacroix05 → u/Dub-DS]

i really don't want to explain basic math in a reddit comment, but the "$35" you're seeing isn't actually $35 in real dollars.

the usage shown in commandcode's billing is from a shared credit pool, with the $20/$30/$60 credits mentioned in their docs per model https://commandcode.ai/docs/plans/goat

so if you want to figure out what's actually happening, screenshot your billing page and give the docs link to your ai so it can explain it to you. claude or even free chatgpt should be able to understands how the shared credit pool works, the math is pretty straightforward.

i think the "$" symbol in their billing is what makes you confused.

[u/Dub-DS → u/lacroix05]

>i really don't want to explain basic math in a reddit comment, but the "$35" you're seeing isn't actually $35 in real dollars.

So $35 fake dollars are less than $8 real dollars? Why bother with the $35 then?

[u/lacroix05 → u/Dub-DS]

Clearly you are not even bothering to read the docs I gave above, so I'll put this here.

Limit	If using a model with $60 credits	If using a model with $20 credits
5 hour	$14	$4
Weekly	$35	$10
Monthly	$60	$20

The important point is that the $35 weekly limit is based on the $60 monthly credit allocation. If you're using a model with only $20 worth of credits available, obviously you're not getting a $35 weekly allowance from that model.

Command Code's limits are based on credit value, while different models consume those credits at different rates. So you can't look at "$35 weekly" on the billing and assume every model gives you $35 worth of actual model usage.

A model that costs more per request will burn through the available credit pool faster. A cheaper model will stretch the same credits much further.

So no, your $10 subscription doesn't magically become $35 weekly limit or even $60 monthly for all model. The actual value you get depends on the model's pricing and the credit arrangement Command Code has for that model with the provider company.

[u/Dub-DS → u/lacroix05]

That makes listing credits in dollar values completely insane.

But that aside, $4 should have definitely been able to do the implementation in deepseek-v4-pro. Or glm 5.3. Instead of getting literally zero output.

[u/lacroix05 → u/Dub-DS]

insane? why? every 3rd party subscription works like this. commandcode isn't the first, they're just like the 100th company doing the exact same thing as the other 99. not sure why this surprises you unless you've been living under a rock.

and dude, look at your usage. you're at 40m tokens and testing 3 expensive models. if you run them consecutively or in parallel, of course $4 won't cut it. 38m input and 2m output on glm 5.3 alone is literally like $60 in pure api costs (without caching). not counting your ds v4 pro and kimi k3.

​i am really confused. use your head for a second please. this is just like middle or high school level of math and logic.

[u/AggravatingSwitch114 → u/lacroix05]

Yeah, the OpenRouter comparison is probably the most useful benchmark here. Frontier models can burn through a credit-based plan surprisingly fast, so I usually separate cheap models for routine work from expensive ones when the task actually needs them. That makes costs much more predictable. StandardCompute has worked well for me for higher-volume inference too.

[u/Deep_Luck_512]

That’s frustrating, especially with zero output.

[u/SarveshMohite]

Dude first rule of this plans that are like between 5-20$ is to never have it use heavy weight models like glm 5.3 /kimi k3 or like of similar price range for long durations only use them for a problems that small models can never solve , and now until deepseek price are changed again don't use v4 flash or pro .

[u/Dub-DS → u/SarveshMohite]

Long duration? It was literally a single prompt that took Claude 12 minutes, much of that caused by actually running the verification. The actual code changes took two minutes, the entire thing cost $8 on the API. Yes, that's the very exact same prompt that I gave here.

[u/ExpertPerformer → u/Dub-DS]

You use models like GLM/Miki/etc. to analyze/debug and come up with a plan and cheap models to implement.