Understanding API costs
How QueueWrite licensing relates to provider usage bills for writing, research, and optional images.
Updated
QueueWrite’s product licence and your AI provider bills are separate. Understanding that split avoids surprises.
Two different costs
- QueueWrite licence — paid to Lemon Squeezy for the Mac app (monthly or lifetime).
- Provider usage — paid directly to DeepSeek, OpenAI, Anthropic, OpenRouter, Tavily, Consensus, Pexels, and any other connected provider according to their pricing.
QueueWrite uses the writing, research, and optional image accounts you choose. You create an API key with the provider, enter it in QueueWrite, and that provider bills usage on their own pricing. A consumer subscription such as ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro does not necessarily include API usage or API credit. QueueWrite does not resell provider access.
What affects provider spend
- Which writing provider and model you select
- Whether web research and/or academic research run for an article
- Article length, research depth, and how many articles you generate
- Retries or regenerations
QueueWrite does not publish a fixed per-article price because that figure depends on your providers and settings. Check each provider’s pricing page and account dashboard for live rates and remaining credit.
Staying in control
- Use provider dashboards to set budgets or monitor usage where available
- Start with shorter articles while you learn typical spend
- Turn research on only when you need it
- If the queue pauses for billing or credit reasons, top up or fix the provider account, then resume