What is AI unit economics?
Define the unit, the revenue, the variable model cost, and the contribution profit.
Learn
Make the profit formula boringly clear.
These guides explain what to calculate, which systems supply the evidence, and where the answer must remain unknown. No magic score, benchmark theatre, or token total pretending to be profit.
First principles
Six questions every AI product eventually asks.
How do I calculate AI contribution margin?
Keep the numerator, denominator, time window, and customer population aligned.
What is AI cost per user?
Price cached and uncached tokens, failures, retries, and streaming usage correctly.
Why is token cost not profit?
Cost needs observed revenue and a trustworthy identity link before it becomes customer profit.
Gross margin or AI contribution margin?
Use each metric for the decision it can actually support.
Which customers are losing money?
Join payer identity and model usage without spreading unknown cost across every account.
Prefer the live formula?