Free tier economics

Start with unit costs

Every prompt has marginal cost (tokens, GPU time, provider fees). Use your real average cost per prompt; the example below uses $0.005.

Monthly compute cost = prompts_per_month × cost_per_prompt.

Translate CPM into per-prompt revenue

Programmatic ads are priced in CPM (cost per thousand impressions). Revenue per filled impression = CPM / 1000.

• Revenue per prompt = (CPM / 1000) × fill_rate × slots_per_prompt

Worked example

Assume 500k prompts/month, 1 slot/prompt, 100% fill, $9.50 CPM, and $0.005 cost/prompt:

• Compute cost: 500,000 × $0.005 = $2,500
• Ad revenue: 500,000 / 1000 × $9.50 = $4,750
• Net: +$2,250

What changes the result

• Fill rate: no-bid, blocks, and timeouts reduce impressions.
• eCPM: varies by geo, format, and demand.
• Slots per prompt: multiple surfaces change inventory.
• Cost per prompt: depends on model choice and prompt length.
• Consent rate: semantic matching can require opt-in.

Next step

If you want a broader comparison, see AI monetization. For the operating model, start with How wavebird works.