Gartner warns consumption-based pricing and scant cost controls send monthly AI coding bills into five figures. Vendors shifted from seat-based licensing to consumption-based pricing, creating highly variable cost structures.
Nitish Tyagi cited lack of vendor transparency on token billing. Gartner Peer Insights: 23% of tech leaders spend 500 per developer per month on tokens for tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenAI Codex.
Tyagi noted token costs don’t vary by location — relevant for emerging markets where 5K/month may already exceed senior engineer salaries.