Version 1 — June 2026
The curated playbook of AI cost wins.
Cited research and our own agent factory, not blog posts.
- 1.
Prompt caching strategies
When it pays, by model and volume, with real cost examples
- 2.
Model substitution tables
Which workloads move from premium tiers down to efficient ones without quality loss
- 3.
Cache-aware routing playbook
When switching models saves you — and when it quietly costs 4.9× more in long sessions
- 4.
Agent cost guardrails
Caps, budget scopes and kill conditions that stop a runaway loop before it bills
- 5.
Worked examples, line by line
The $847→$160/month substitution off real public pricing, and the overnight agent cost profile
$99
One-time purchase. No subscription.
14-day no-questions refund if it's not for you.
Here's what you get.
- • Named models (not "a cheaper alternative")
- • Costed with list prices we re-verify weekly, and dated
- • Ranked by savings impact, not comprehensiveness
- • Agent guardrail patterns — caps, budgets, and kill conditions
What makes it different from free content?
- • Findings from running our own agent factory in production
- • Every figure carries its source — cited research or a worked example, labelled
- • Scruuge's point of view on which wins are worth your time
- • Updated as better data emerges — v2 when it's earned
The cost-reduction ladder.
Each layer compounds the one below it — and you don't have to do them all at once.
The Pack walks you up this ladder for your stack. Figures below are per 10 developers.
| Strategy | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| No optimization (always premium) | ~$26,000 |
| Simple router (switch by task) | ~$18,600 |
| Cache-aware router | ~$11,500 |
| Cache-aware + on-prem commodity tier | ~$4,000 |
Ladder figures from AT&T’s contribution to the TM Forum MoDaaS initiative (TM Forum Copenhagen 2026), cited with thanks. Read our breakdown →