Committed use, cache rates and true-ups
Updated: September 27, 2026
AI model spend has moved from a line item to a procurement category. At that scale the mechanics that govern a large bill are not the same ones that govern a small one, and the negotiation is almost never about the headline rate.
Term 1: the floor, and who owns the risk
A committed-use agreement typically trades 10–35% off list for a 12-month floor. That is a bet on your own forecast, and the failure mode is specific: commit to a floor, then optimise onto a cheaper model, and end up paying committed rates for tokens you no longer need. Three controls make the bet survivable.
- Size the floor to steady demand only. Batch, evals and internal traffic forecast far better than customer-facing agent traffic.
- Keep model selection fungible. A commitment to spend with a provider is portable across that provider's models. A commitment to a named model is not, and it is the term to refuse.
- Review at month six, not twelve. If run-rate is far under the floor, renegotiate before the true-up, not after.
Term 2: the cache rate
Cached input is billed as a separate rate and, on cache-heavy agent workloads, is the majority of input cost. Reported flagship rates put cache reads at $0.20 per million against $4.00 for fresh input. Negotiate the cache rate explicitly — it is a separate line in the rate card and a separate line on the invoice.
Term 3: the line items the rate card missed
Server-side tools are billed independently of tokens. Web search, code execution and similar server tools produce a non-token cost that no headline rate negotiation touched, and on an agent built around web search it can be substantial. Ask for the tool-unit rates and the monthly tool ceiling, separately from the token commitment.
Term 4: the pass-through clause
This is the clause that matters most. When two labs cut prices on the same afternoon, a rate card locked six months earlier becomes the expensive option. Structure the agreement so provider price revisions pass through, or trigger a review window. Without it, every price cut by a competitor raises your cost until renewal.
Bottom line
Committed floor, cache rate, tool ceiling, pass-through clause. Those four terms decide more of the bill than which model you chose, and they are the terms to negotiate before the renewal date, not after.