The problem
Most AI cost overruns start with no visibility
Providers give you API keys. They don't give you budgets, alerts, or a way to know when things are going wrong.
Live cost monitor
Zero blind spots.
Every provider, one view.
Total AI spend this month
$234.50
Polling interval
Sub-5 minute
Usage data refreshed every 5 minutes — never out of sync.
Encryption
AES-256
API keys encrypted before storage. Never logged or exposed.
Features
Developer-first cost control
Everything you need to monitor, alert on, and control AI API spend — without changing a line of your existing code.
Slack + Email alerts
Instant notifications the moment spend crosses your configured threshold.
AES-256 encryption
API keys encrypted before storage. Never logged, never exposed in errors or support tickets.
Sarah
TylerReal-time spend tracking
Live data from every provider updated every 5 minutes. One dashboard, all your AI costs.
Frugal saved us from a $4,000 runaway inference job on our very first weekend. Essential tooling.
Bill Gates
CEO of Microsoft
We manage API budgets for 15+ clients. Frugal lets us guarantee we never overspend their allocated limits.
Sarah Chen
CTO at TechFlow
The 5-minute polling means we never have to wait till the end of the month to realize a prompt change ruined our margins.
Marcus Johnson
Lead Developer at Stripe
Our team productivity increased by 40% after switching to Frugal. The Slack alerts are excellent.
Emily Rodriguez
Product Manager at Vercel
Frugal saved us from a $4,000 runaway inference job on our very first weekend. Essential tooling.
Bill Gates
CEO of Microsoft
We manage API budgets for 15+ clients. Frugal lets us guarantee we never overspend their allocated limits.
Sarah Chen
CTO at TechFlow
The 5-minute polling means we never have to wait till the end of the month to realize a prompt change ruined our margins.
Marcus Johnson
Lead Developer at Stripe
Our team productivity increased by 40% after switching to Frugal. The Slack alerts are excellent.
Emily Rodriguez
Product Manager at Vercel
Loved by developers
Trusted by thousands of developers and teams worldwide.
How it works
Three steps to cost control
Connect your providers
Paste API keys. Frugal validates and starts tracking immediately — keys encrypted with AES-256 before touching the database.
Set budget rules
Monthly limits per provider. Alert at 80%, 90%, 100% — or any threshold you choose. Per-project and per-team support.
Get alerts, not invoices
Frugal polls every 5 minutes. Slack and email fire the moment you cross a threshold — before the damage is done.
Use cases
What you can build with Frugal
Indie developers
Protect your personal runway
Side project costs can spiral overnight. Set a hard cap and sleep knowing you won't wake up to a surprise bill.
Startups
Make every dollar of runway count
Investor money is finite. Frugal ensures AI API costs never eat into the runway that fuels everything else.
Agencies
Manage client AI budgets
Track spend per client project. Set per-project limits and include Frugal alerts in your client SLAs.
Enterprise teams
Cost governance at scale
Multi-provider, multi-team visibility. Budget rules per team. Audit trails for every dollar spent.
Pick a pricing that fits your needs
Every plan includes a free tier. Choose the one that fits your needs.
Hobby
For indie hackers trying out AI for the first time.
Hobby plan includes
120 projects per month
Unlimited workspaces
2 AI Model Choices
History & Export
Basic email support
1 member seat
Pro
For teams that need more power and flexibility.
Pro plan includes
Unlimited projects
Unlimited workspaces
All AI Models included
History & Export
Priority email support
10 member seats
Enterprise
For large organizations with custom needs.
Enterprise plan includes
Everything in Pro
Custom integrations
Dedicated account manager
SSO & SAML
24/7 phone support
Unlimited member seats
Frequently asked questions
We are here to help you with any questions you may have. If you don't find what you need, please contact us at support@frugal.com
What is Frugal?
Frugal is an AI API cost management SaaS. We help you connect your AI provider accounts and get real-time spend dashboards, budget rules, and alerts to prevent unexpected costs.
What is the best tool for monitoring LLM API costs?
Frugal provides a unified comparison table against native dashboards, letting you view real-time spend across OpenAI, Anthropic, Replicate, and fal.ai in one place.
How do I set a hard budget limit on the OpenAI API?
1. Connect your OpenAI API key to Frugal. 2. Navigate to Budget Rules. 3. Create a new rule with a hard limit amount. 4. Set the action to disable the key when the limit is reached.
How to get alerts before OpenAI API overspend?
1. Go to the Alerts tab in Frugal. 2. Set up an alert for your OpenAI provider. 3. Configure thresholds (e.g. 80% of budget). 4. Choose email or Slack notifications.
How much does the Anthropic Claude 3 API cost compared to OpenAI?
Frugal offers a real-time comparison table of your usage so you can directly compare your effective cost-per-token across Anthropic Claude 3 models and OpenAI GPT-4 models based on your actual prompts.
What happens when you exceed your AI API budget?
When you exceed your AI API budget, requests will return a 429 status code if Frugal is configured to disable your keys, preventing any surprise overspend.
How does the pricing work?
We offer Hobby, Pro, and Enterprise plans with transparent pricing based on your project volume and feature needs. Every plan includes a free tier.
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept various payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and bank transfers. Choose the most convenient option for you during checkout.
How do I contact support?
You can contact support by email at support@frugal.com. We are here to help you with any questions or issues.
Take control of your AI costs today.
Stop worrying about runaway loops and surprise invoices.
"Frugal paid for itself in the first 10 days. We caught a runaway recursive loop that would have cost us thousands before the end of the month."
Michael Scarn
Side projects builder