Stop Paying $133/Month for AI Tools You Barely Use

You are probably paying for ChatGPT Plus. And Claude Pro. And maybe Gemini Advanced. And if you write code, Cursor Pro on top of that. Each one costs $20/month. Each one gives you access to exactly one family of models. And according to Arsturn research, you are using less than 60% of what you are paying for.

This is the AI subscription trap, and it is costing the average professional $133 every month.

The subscription stack nobody asked for

Here is what a typical AI-forward professional’s monthly bill looks like in 2026:

• ChatGPT Plus: $20/mo
• Claude Pro: $20/mo
• Gemini Advanced: $19.99/mo
• Cursor Pro: $20/mo

That is $80/month minimum. And it only covers chat and code completion. The moment you need API access for automation, agents, or any real workflow, you are looking at additional usage-based charges that can range from $50 to $200/month depending on volume.

For many professionals, the total lands somewhere between $100 and $200/month. For power users running autonomous agents, it can go much higher.

42% of that spending is wasted

This is not speculation. Research from Arsturn found that 42% of AI subscription spending goes unused. You are paying for Claude’s 200K context window but using it for three-paragraph emails. You are paying for GPT-4 but defaulting to GPT-4o mini for most tasks. You have a Gemini subscription because you needed it once for a Google Workspace integration and forgot to cancel.

The waste adds up. Across a year, 42% waste on $133/month means roughly $670 in subscription fees for features you never touch.

The cancellation wave is already here

The market is correcting. According to the same Arsturn research, 51% of professionals have already canceled at least one AI subscription due to cost. People are not leaving AI. They are leaving the model of paying $20/month to four different companies for overlapping capabilities.

This tracks with what we hear every week: people want access to the best model for each task, but they do not want four separate bills to get it.

Why multi-model access actually matters

Different models are genuinely better at different things. This is not marketing speak. It is measurable:

• Claude leads on coding tasks (77.2% on SWE-bench) and long-context analysis
• GPT-4 excels at general reasoning and broad knowledge tasks
• Gemini integrates deeply with Google Workspace and handles multimodal input well
• DeepSeek offers strong performance at a fraction of the cost for routine tasks

The optimal setup is not picking one model and hoping it covers everything. It is having access to all of them and routing each task to the model that handles it best. That is what multi-model access means in practice, not a feature checkbox, but a way to get better results while spending less.

The BYOK option: full control, zero markup

For power users who want maximum control over costs, LikeClaw’s Power plan ($40/mo) includes BYOK – bring your own API keys. Connect your own keys from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or any other provider. Pay the provider directly at their published rates. LikeClaw adds zero markup on API calls.

This means you get the unified interface, sandboxed execution, and all the platform features, but your per-token costs are exactly what the provider charges. No middleman pricing. For teams that process high volumes, BYOK can cut costs significantly compared to paying retail subscription rates to each provider. We wrote more about this model in our BYOK deep-dive.

The hidden cost of “free” alternatives

OpenClaw is the most popular open-source AI agent right now, with 150K+ GitHub stars. The software is free. The API costs are not.

OpenClaw’s software is free, but users report unpredictable API costs that dwarf the subscription savings. The project runs on your own hardware, connects to whichever LLM you configure, and sends API calls with no spending caps, no usage alerts, and no automatic shutoffs.

Free software, unpredictable costs. For many users, the total cost of running OpenClaw exceeds what they would have spent on commercial subscriptions.

One subscription, every model, predictable pricing

LikeClaw takes a different approach. Every plan – including the free tier – gives you access to 100+ AI models through a single interface. Claude, GPT-4, Gemini, DeepSeek, and dozens more. You pick the right model for each task. You pay one predictable price.

• Free: $0/mo – 50 tasks, basic models, 1 workspace
• Pro: $15-20/mo – unlimited chat, 500 sandbox executions, all models, 5 workspaces
• Power: $40/mo – unlimited everything, BYOK, priority execution
• Team: $25/seat/mo – Power features plus team management and SSO

No surprise bills. No token anxiety. No forgetting to cancel a subscription you signed up for three months ago.

Every task runs in a sandboxed E2B container that is created fresh and destroyed after use. Your code executes safely. Your data stays isolated. And your monthly bill is exactly what you expected it to be.

The math is simple

If you are currently paying $80-133/month across multiple AI subscriptions and using less than 60% of what you pay for, switching to a single multi-model platform is not a luxury. It is basic cost hygiene.

Stop paying four subscriptions for the privilege of switching between four browser tabs.