I am using Claude daily, exclusively via the API (in Zed, added my own token) and spend a few bucks a day tops. Unlimited plans encourage wasting resources[0].

I am using Claude daily, exclusively via the API (in Zed, added my own token) and spend a few bucks a day tops. Unlimited plans encourage wasting resources[0]. By actually paying for what you use, you can be a bit more economical and still get a lot of mileage out of it. $100/$200 is still a great deal (as you said), but it does make sense for actually-$2000 users to get charged differently. 0: In my hometown, (some) people have unlimited central heating (in winter) for a fixed fee. On warmer days, people are known to open windows instead of turning off the heating. It's free, who cares...