What it costs

Conch says what your chats cost the way your provider charges you. On a key you pay as you go, that's money. On a plan, like Claude Max or ChatGPT Plus, it's how much of the plan is used. A model on this computer is free.

What a reply cost

Point at a reply, and its cost is beside Copy: "$0.04", or "Plan" on a subscription. On a phone it's always there. Tap it to see more:

• what reading from the cache saved;
• how many tokens it read and wrote;
• on a plan, how much of it is used, like "Current session: 42% used".

The provider's own price is used when it gives one. Otherwise Conch works it out from the list price. If it doesn't know a model's price, it says so instead of guessing.

What a chat cost

Once a chat has spent money, a small chip beside the model picker shows the total: "$0.31". Tap it to see what was spent, including the tasks and helpers sent from that chat, and what the cache saved. You can also press CtrlK and type What this chat spent.

A limit for one chat

1. Tap the chat's chip.
2. Under Limit for this chat, enter an amount, like 2.
3. Press Set limit.

At the limit, your message waits, and the chat asks what to do. If a reply reaches it part way, the reply stops and carries on once you choose.

• Raise to $5 raises the limit, and your message goes.
• Use Gemma 3 on this computer (or a model on your plan, or a cheaper one) carries on with a model that costs less. A cheaper model on the same key gets a little more room, and the button says how much.
• Stop here leaves the message unanswered.

To take a limit off, clear the amount and press Remove limit.

A budget for the month

Set a Monthly budget in Settings → Usage. It counts what every chat spends on pay-as-you-go providers, whichever provider is your default.

• When the month passes 80% of it, the chat says so in one line. You hear it once a month.
• At the budget, a chat asks before spending more, with the same choices. Chats on a plan or on this computer carry on.

Routines have a limit of their own. Their spending counts toward the month too.

Before a model makes replies cost more

When you pick a model that costs a lot more on a long chat, one line says what a reply will cost: "With a chat this long, each reply from Opus 5.5 costs about $0.84. The last one cost $0.21." Pick the one you had to go back. Conch only says it when it's at least 25¢ a reply and twice what the last reply cost.

Good to know

• Only you can change a limit. The assistant can't raise one, and neither can a task.
• Chats from a chat app, like Telegram, are counted but never left waiting at a limit, because there's nobody there to tap the card.
• Prices are list prices, so your provider's bill can be a little different.