LeanLM

Blog

LLM Cost Optimization Insights

Research, techniques, and production results for engineers reducing AI inference costs.

Self-Hosting an LLM: Is It Actually Cheaper Than the API?
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 10 min read
Best LLM Cost Tracking Tools (2026): A Vendor-Neutral Comparison
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 12 min read
LLM Caching Strategies: Prompt, Semantic, and KV Cache — Which to Deploy First
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 10 min read
The LLM Effective Cost Table: What Cache + Batch Pricing Actually Costs in 2026
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 8 min read
Prompt Caching in 2026: OpenAI vs Claude vs Gemini Pricing
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 9 min read
LLM Batch API: The Flat 50% Discount and How It Stacks With Caching
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 8 min read
Semantic Caching for LLMs: Real Hit Rates, Thresholds, and Limits
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 8 min read
Long-Context LLM Cost Management: Stop Paying for Stale Tokens
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 9 min read
AI Agent Cost Optimization: 7 Patterns That Blow Up Your Budget
Chris Cholette · June 2026 · 9 min read
Featured
LLM Cost Optimization: Why Enterprises Overspend 50–90% and How to Fix It
Chris Cholette · February 2026 · 9 min read
LLM Model Routing: Automatically Send Every Query to the Cheapest Capable Model
Chris Cholette · May 2026 · 8 min read
Prompt Compression: Reduce LLM Token Costs by 2–20× Without Losing Quality
Chris Cholette · May 2026 · 7 min read
LoRA Adapters: Fine-Tune LLMs for 1% of the Cost of Full Fine-Tuning
Chris Cholette · May 2026 · 8 min read
← LeanLM home

Get LeanLM early access

New research and the launch announcement — no sales call, launch updates only.