# Token-Based Billing Is Nuts (Ep. 158)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/never-rewrite-software-engineering-ai-coding-6208168/token-based-billing-is-nuts-ep-158
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/never-rewrite-software-engineering-ai-coding-6208168/token-based-billing-is-nuts-ep-158.md
Podcast: [Never Rewrite: Software Engineering & AI Coding](https://stenobird.com/podcast/never-rewrite-software-engineering-ai-coding-6208168)
Published: 2026-06-05T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/b4fd3ee200e88e4d0be588ba9345cddbbc511e64d4f54fa66b730d3f780d4a8a/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiI3OTFlZWQ2NS0yZjkxLTQyZTYtOWY4Yi0xMzNiZDk3MDUwOWQiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI3YTA3YTNiYS0wNzY2LTQzOTUtOTFlNy01MTFkZmM5MmEzZjAiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2NTBkZGJjZDU5NTYwNGVjYjNiMTRmZmIiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmEyMDUwZmY3NjZiYThmNDBlNDAwZTc4L25ldmVyLXJld3JpdGUtY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi02LTNfXzE4LTYtMjMubXAzIn0=.mp3
Audio file: https://api.riverside.com/hosting-analytics/media/b4fd3ee200e88e4d0be588ba9345cddbbc511e64d4f54fa66b730d3f780d4a8a/eyJlcGlzb2RlSWQiOiI3OTFlZWQ2NS0yZjkxLTQyZTYtOWY4Yi0xMzNiZDk3MDUwOWQiLCJwb2RjYXN0SWQiOiI3YTA3YTNiYS0wNzY2LTQzOTUtOTFlNy01MTFkZmM5MmEzZjAiLCJhY2NvdW50SWQiOiI2NTBkZGJjZDU5NTYwNGVjYjNiMTRmZmIiLCJwYXRoIjoibWVkaWEvY2xpcHMvNmEyMDUwZmY3NjZiYThmNDBlNDAwZTc4L25ldmVyLXJld3JpdGUtY29tcG9zZXItMjAyNi02LTNfXzE4LTYtMjMubXAzIn0=.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/never-rewrite-software-engineering-ai-coding-6208168/episodes/token-based-billing-is-nuts-ep-158
Duration seconds: 1602

## Resource

Jeffrey Sherman and Isaac Askew explore the pitfalls of token-based billing models, comparing them to hourly billing and value-based billing. They discuss how these models create adversarial relationships, obscure true costs, and impact incentives for vendors and users alike.

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/never-rewrite-software-engineering-ai-coding-6208168/episodes/token-based-billing-is-nuts-ep-158/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/never-rewrite-software-engineering-ai-coding-6208168/token-based-billing-is-nuts-ep-158.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.