AI API pricing methodology

1. Separate channel from authority

An aggregator's pricing page is authoritative for that aggregator's service price, not for the model owner's direct price. APIDir records both identities.

2. Define one offer

An offer includes provider route, model, SKU, billing unit, mode, tier, resolution, duration, audio, region, and any other field that changes cost. Unlike offers are never forced into one row.

3. Prefer first-party sources

Official APIs, pricing pages, and documentation come first. Provider-confirmed evidence follows. Secondary and community sources remain reported until independently checked.

4. Normalize without deleting context

Money is stored as integer USD nanos. A fixed clip may be converted to a per-second rate only when duration is explicit; the original clip configuration remains visible.

5. Label freshness

Fresh evidence supports comparison. Aging and stale observations remain auditable but cannot drive cheapest, savings, or recommendation language.

6. Quarantine material ambiguity

Changes of 40% or more, units, currencies, tiers, model mappings, zero values, and parser structure changes require manual review before publication.

7. Correct in public

Accepted observations are retained. A correction adds a reviewed observation and records why the public result changed.