Home / Guides
Guides
Practical explainers that always send you back to the same TokenCALC calculator. 11 guides covering tokens, Exact vs Approx, pricing, caching, and provider doorways.
Main calculator · Tokenizer · Cost calculator · Compare · Tools
- What is a token in AI?A plain-language definition of AI tokens, why APIs bill in tokens instead of words, how counting works, and how to estimate cost before you call a model.
- What is tokenization?How LLMs split text into tokens with subword methods like BPE, why counts differ by model family, and how Exact vs Approx labeling works in TokenCALC.
- Exact vs Approx token countsWhy TokenCALC labels some models Exact and others Approx, how much heuristics can drift, and how to budget safely across OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, and other providers.
- Context windows and overflowWhat an LLM context window includes, why input plus output share one budget, how overflow fails, and how long-context pricing tiers change cost.
- How prompt cost is calculatedBreak down input vs output pricing, cache hits, batch discounts, monthly projections, and the workflow to estimate prompt cost before you ship.
- Prompt caching explainedHow prompt cache hits cut LLM input cost, when cache writes matter, which workloads benefit, and how to estimate savings in TokenCALC before you ship.
- How LLM API pricing worksHow providers bill input vs output tokens, when cache, batch, and long-context tiers change the math, and how to estimate monthly spend before you ship.
- Tokens vs words: how to convertWhy LLM APIs bill in tokens instead of words, official English conversion rules of thumb, worked examples, and when to use Exact tokenization instead of a heuristic.
- OpenAI token calculatorCount Exact OpenAI tokens in your browser with o200k-style encodings, then estimate GPT API cost with cache, batch, and monthly volume.
- Claude token calculatorEstimate Anthropic Claude tokens and API cost in TokenCALC with honest Approx labels, cache controls, and a clear path to Anthropic’s official count_tokens API.
- Gemini token calculatorEstimate Google Gemini tokens and API cost, including Flash vs Pro tradeoffs, Approx in-browser counts, and long-context pricing tiers when published.