How I stopped wasting money on AI tools I barely used
Quick confession: I was paying $90/month for AI tools and using maybe $50 worth.
The problem is that AI subscriptions are invisible. You sign up for Claude Pro, Cursor, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini — each one feels essential when you're signing up. But do you actually know which ones you're using heavily vs. barely touching?
I didn't. Until I built a way to see.
TokenBar sits in my macOS menu bar and tracks usage across all my AI tools. When I first looked at the data, I was surprised:
- Claude: 85% of limit used almost daily. Clearly essential.
- Cursor: 55-65% usage. Good value.
- ChatGPT: ~20% usage. Mostly a backup.
- Copilot: Under 10%. Autocomplete I barely noticed.
- Gemini Advanced: Near 0%. Forgot I was paying for it.
I cancelled Gemini immediately ($20/mo saved). I'm evaluating Copilot ($10/mo). That's potentially $360/year I was burning without realizing it.
But the usage tracking is just one benefit. The bigger one is avoiding rate limit surprises.
When you can see your burn rate across tools, you can:
- Start heavy sessions on the tool with the most remaining capacity
- Pace yourself instead of burning through Claude in 2 hours
- Plan complex work around reset windows
- Switch proactively instead of reactively when you're close to a limit
TokenBar tracks 20+ providers: Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, OpenRouter, Vertex AI, Augment, Amp, JetBrains AI, Ollama, Warp, Kimi, and more.
$4.99 one-time purchase. Paid for itself in the first week.
