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How much does it cost to run AI agents in 2026? Your own subscription vs credits

How much do AI agents cost in 2026? Real prices for agents bundled with AI plans, credit-based apps like Manus and Lindy, and agents on your own plan.

Aryan Vij ·

A personal AI agent in 2026 costs anywhere from nothing extra to a few hundred dollars a month. Agents bundled with an AI plan start at about $20 to $30, credit-based agent apps start at $20 to $50 plus top-ups, and agents that run on an AI plan or API key you already have can be free.

The price on the pricing page is only part of it. Most agents don't charge per message. They charge for work, measured in credits, tokens or a usage pool, and long tasks use more. This guide explains the three ways people pay for personal AI agents today, with real published prices. Every price below was checked on October 27 or 28, 2026.

What are the three ways to pay for an AI agent?

  1. An agent bundled with an AI plan. Grok Bot, ChatGPT Work and dots, Claude Cowork and Tasks in Gemini come inside a monthly plan.
  2. A credit-based agent app. Manus, Lindy, Viktor and Perplexity Computer sell their own AI and bill each task in credits.
  3. Your own AI subscription or API key. Turnstone, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent and Squad run on AI you bring.

How much do AI agents cost? Prices compared

AgentHow you payStarting price per monthGood to knowChecked
Grok BotThe X Subscription$30 (Premium)Super $100, Ultra $200. Weekly shared pool of unpublished sizeOct 28, 2026
ChatGPT WorkChatGPT plan$20 (Plus)Shares one allowance with Codex. Buy credits past the limitOct 27, 2026
ChatGPT dotsChatGPT Pro$100One dot included. Pro also comes at $200 and $500Oct 27, 2026
Claude CoworkClaude plan$20 (Pro), or $17 billed annuallyShares one pool with chat and Claude Code. Max from $100Oct 27, 2026
Tasks in GeminiGoogle AI plan$19.99 (AI Pro)Ultra $99.99 or $199.99. Not on AI PlusOct 27, 2026
ManusCreditsFree (300 credits a day)Pro $20 for 4,000 credits, $40 for 8,000, $200 for 40,000Oct 27, 2026
LindyCredits, per active userFree $50 of credits for 7 daysThen from $49.99 for 5,000 credits. Top-ups $10 per 1,000Oct 27, 2026
ViktorCredits, per workspaceFree, up to $100 of creditsTeam from $50 for 20,000 credits. The pricing page shows $100 for 40,000Oct 27, 2026
Perplexity ComputerPlan plus credits$20 (Pro)Max $200 with 10,000 credits. 100 credits cost $1Oct 27, 2026
SquadPlatform fee plus your AI plan$99 plus your AI planRuns on your own AI accounts in its cloudOct 27, 2026
OpenClawYour plan or API keyFree, open sourceYou pay your model providerOct 27, 2026
Hermes AgentYour plan, API key or Nous PortalFree, open sourceNous Portal plans $20 to $200. Hermes Cloud billed per dayOct 27, 2026
Turnstone (ours)Your plan or API keyFreeNo Turnstone credits or meterOct 28, 2026

Prices are monthly, in US dollars, from each company's own pricing or help pages, listed in Sources. Manus's $200 tier comes from a third-party guide because Manus's page didn't show it as text. Lindy's page showed two different starting prices on the day we checked, so check it before you buy.

Agents that come with an AI plan

The big AI companies put their agents inside plans you may already have. There's no separate meter, but the agent shares your plan's limits with everything else you do.

  • Grok Bot comes with The X Subscription on Premium ($30), Super ($100) or Ultra ($200). Usage comes from a weekly pool shared with Grok and Cursor, and xAI doesn't publish its size. When it runs out, you buy prepaid credit or wait. See our Grok Bot pricing guide.
  • ChatGPT Work starts on Plus at $20 and shares an allowance with Codex. Past the limit you can buy credits. Dots need Pro at $100 or more. See Turnstone vs ChatGPT Work.
  • Claude Cowork is in Claude Pro at $20. It shares one pool with chat and Claude Code that resets every five hours, with weekly limits on top. Anthropic says Cowork "consumes limits faster than Chat." See Turnstone vs Claude Cowork.
  • Tasks in Gemini needs Google AI Pro at $19.99 or Ultra. Google says its limits are "compute-based." See Turnstone vs Gemini Spark.

Credit-based agent apps: what does one task cost?

Manus, Lindy, Viktor and Perplexity Computer sell their own AI and bill you in credits. A plan buys a block of credits each month, and each task spends some. You can't use the ChatGPT or Claude plan you already pay for. Some publish typical task sizes, so you can turn them into dollars.

AppTask size, from the companyPrice per creditCost per task
LindyEveryday asks 2 to 250 credits. Deep work 250 to 1,000. Big builds 1,000 to 2,500$0.01Up to $2.50. $2.50 to $10. $10 to $25
ViktorQuick tasks 100 to 300. Complex workflows 500 to 1,500. Full projects 2,000 to 5,000$25 per 10,000$0.25 to $0.75. $1.25 to $3.75. $5 to $12.50
Perplexity ComputerResearch report 350 to 950. App build 15,000 or more$1 per 100$3.50 to $9.50. $150 or more

Manus doesn't publish task sizes. It says credits pay for "LLM tokens", "Virtual machines" and "Third-party APIs."

  • Monthly credits don't roll over on Manus, Lindy, Viktor or Perplexity. Top-ups last longer.
  • Running out pauses work. Lindy and Viktor pause at zero. A Manus balance can go negative mid-task.
  • Seats can add up. Lindy bills per active user, and anyone who @mentions it in Slack takes a seat. Viktor bills per workspace.

See Turnstone vs Manus, Turnstone vs Lindy, Turnstone vs Viktor and Turnstone vs Perplexity Computer.

Bring your own AI subscription or API key

Here the agent app doesn't sell AI at all. You bring it.

Your own subscription. The agent uses the ChatGPT, Claude or Grok plan you already pay for, through the provider's official route. Usage counts against your plan's limits, so nothing is added on top. The rules differ by provider and changed several times in 2026. Gemini plans don't work outside Google's own apps. Our guide to using your ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Grok subscription in other apps covers each one.

Your own API key. You pay the provider per use, billed by tokens, on a separate bill. Light use is cheap. Heavy agent work can cost more than a flat plan. Claude Max includes $100 or $200 a month in API credits that work with a key.

  • OpenClaw is free and open source. You run it on your own computer or server and pay your model provider. See Turnstone vs OpenClaw.
  • Hermes Agent is free and open source. Its easiest setup points to Nous Portal plans from $20 to $200 a month. See Turnstone vs Hermes Agent.
  • Squad runs on your own AI accounts in its cloud for $99 a month on top. See Turnstone vs Squad.

Turnstone. We make Turnstone. It's a free, model-agnostic Grok Bot alternative that runs on the AI subscriptions you already have: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Cursor, OpenRouter, Ollama for local models, or your own OpenAI or Anthropic API key. For ChatGPT and Claude plans, Turnstone runs the official Codex and Claude Code apps on your Mac, and you sign in through the provider's own login. Usage counts against your own plan's limits. Turnstone doesn't add credits or a meter. With an API key, you pay the provider per use. It's Mac only today. Cloud, the iPhone app and the web app are coming soon. And a $20 plan has its own limits, so heavy Agent work can still run into them.

What makes AI agent costs grow?

One request can mean many steps. The agent reads, opens apps, checks its work and writes back, and each step uses the AI. So cost follows the work, not the number of messages you send.

  • Long tasks. Anthropic says agentic tasks that search the web, run code or create files "generally use more than a quick question."
  • Long threads. Each step carries the conversation so far. One writer found the same Perplexity audit cost about 40 credits in a fresh thread and 200 to 320 at message 50.
  • Schedules with nothing to do. Viktor's docs say "Scheduled automations run on credits too." A Builder.io reviewer wrote that her "16 shiny new bots burned $100" in Grok Bot, mostly deciding they had nothing to tell her.
  • Caps that don't stop a running task. Lindy says "a task already running can finish and take usage beyond the cap." Cursor says the same about Grok Bot.
  • Failures. A task that loops or fails still spends. Manus refunds failed tasks only for a "verifiable bug or platform malfunction."
  • API tokens. With a key, every token is billed until you hit a spending limit you set.

What does an AI agent cost per month? A few examples

These follow straight from the published prices above, with no guesses about usage.

Your situationMonthly total
Claude Pro ($20) plus Turnstone$20
Claude Pro ($20) plus Squad ($99)$119
ChatGPT Plus ($20) plus Grok Bot on X Premium ($30)$50
ChatGPT Plus user who wants a dot, so moves to Pro$100
Manus Pro with double the credits$40 instead of $20
Five active users on Lindy's entry plan$249.95
Five people on Viktor's smallest Team plan$50, or $100 where that's the minimum

For more options side by side, see our list of Grok Bot alternatives.

Questions

How much does an AI agent cost per month? Agents bundled with AI plans start at $19.99 to $30. Credit-based apps start at $20 to $50 plus top-ups. Agents on your own plan, like Turnstone, OpenClaw and Hermes Agent, are free, and you pay for the AI separately.

Are credits or a subscription cheaper for AI agents? If you already pay for ChatGPT, Claude or Grok, an agent that uses that plan adds nothing until you hit its limits. Credits can suit a few tasks with no AI plan. Scheduled work spends credits on every run.

Is there a free AI agent? Yes. Turnstone is free on an AI plan or key you already have. OpenClaw and Hermes Agent are free and open source, and you pay the model provider. Manus has a free plan with 300 credits a day.

Why do AI agents use so many credits? One request can mean dozens of steps, and each uses the AI. Long tasks, long threads and frequent Schedules add up.

Is an API key cheaper than a subscription? It depends on how much you use. Light use is cheap. Heavy agent work can cost more than a flat plan.

Does Turnstone charge for usage? No. Turnstone is free and has no credits or meter. On a ChatGPT or Claude plan, usage counts against your plan's limits. With an API key, you pay the provider per use.

Sources

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