Why does my billed amount change?

API
1

As an unemployed hobby coder, I find the cost of OpenAI API to be extremely high. For example: I estimate that the cost of a real world application like an autonomous personal assistant to be in the range of $90 - $120 (USD) per month. Of course some of this cost is caused by my lack of coding skill but not all of the cost.

Anyway, I monitor OpenAI API usage and cost very closely and I have found (though I have not created detailed logs) that my billed amount as shown on the OpenAI portal under ‘Usage’ changes for several days (2 - 3) after the API activity has occurred. I do not dispute the billed amount, neither the initial reported amount nor the amount that was / is ultimately billed. I do however, find the fluctuation a little annoying. I have seen the amount billed for a date change from $0.09 to $0.30 and I have seen changes in the other direction as well of the same approximate magnitude.

The amount of the fluctuation is not the issue - the existence of the fluctuation is the issue. Will this continue?

Based on past experience from a previous life this feels like ElasticSearch is being used to tally the billing tabulation. If so then this can definitely be fixed.

1 Like
2

Hi,

I’ve only ever seen the amount go up, but that is to be expected as usage occurs, if you are talking about amounts changing after the day in question has ended, then you should use the bot on help.openai.com (bottom right corner) to report it.

3

Yes. The changes occur 1 and sometimes 2 days after the day of the API activity.

I will collect more actionable data then report the issue.

1 Like