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Build Lab / The Lab / The real cost of a "free" AI build, 30 days in
The Lab

The real cost of a "free" AI build, 30 days in

What the preview tier hides, billed out over a month.

Dana Levin Lab Editor, Y Build
Published May 16, 2026
7 min
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cover · 1200×600

“Free” gets you a preview. We ran a real app on the free and entry tiers of three platforms for 30 days of light traffic and added up the actual bill.

Where the money goes

Databases, hosting add-ons, and the seat you need to keep it live. The preview number and the live number are rarely the same — here’s the gap, itemised.

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Written by
Dana Levin Lab Editor, Y Build

Dana runs the cost and capability experiments in the Lab and reviews every teardown for method. Background in data journalism and developer education.

25+ apps shipped 6 yrs full-stack Author · The Lab
More from Dana → @danalevin github ↗

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