Measure Your Free AI Tier Before You Trust It: Three Numbers in 20 Minutes

Developers often trust documentation for free AI tiers, but shared resources are frequently throttled or re-tuned quietly. One developer discovered that warm versus cold latency and actual token counts often differ from published rate limits. To avoid silent failures and unexpected request drops, it is essential to implement a ledger. By recording the usage block provided in model responses rather than estimating tokens from character counts, users can track precise costs and performance metrics.