I Was Shocked by How Cheap LLMs Can Be — A Bootcamp Grad's Guide
Three months ago I graduated from a full-stack bootcamp. I was riding the high of building my first CRUD app when my mentor dropped a question that changed everything: "So, how much do you think it costs to call an LLM API?"
I threw out a number. Fifty bucks? A hundred? Maybe a few hundred a month for a side project?
I had no idea I was about to learn the truth would blow my mind.
The real answer, the one I wish someone had told me on day one, is that the gap between the "expensive" models everyone knows about and the alternatives sitting right next to them is enormous. We are talking about a 40-65% cost reduction for basically the same quality. Let me walk you through what I discovered, because if you're a new dev like me, this stuff can save you real money.
