Back to Blog
Kaisen Kang

3 Ways to Dramatically Reduce AI Coding Costs

ChatGPT Plus subscription reuse + Coding Plan + 9 free usage methods to help you save over 70% of AI coding costs

Cost OptimizationAI CodingOpenAIFree Solutions

As developers, we all enjoy the efficiency improvements brought by AI coding. But to be honest, AI coding costs are indeed not low—especially when you need to frequently use top-tier models like Claude, GPT, etc. The costs of directly purchasing APIs can quickly accumulate.

If you need to use AI heavily every day to write code, review, and debug, API costs for a month could easily exceed $100. What's more frustrating is that you may have already subscribed to Claude Pro ($20/month) or ChatGPT Plus ($20/month), but when using other tools, you still need to purchase APIs separately.

TalkCody helps you dramatically reduce your AI coding costs through 3 strategies:

Strategy 1: Reuse Your Existing Subscriptions

This is the most direct and cost-effective solution. If you've already subscribed to Claude Pro/Max, ChatGPT Plus/Pro, or GitHub Copilot, you can directly reuse these subscriptions through TalkCody with zero additional cost.

1.1 Claude Pro/Max Subscription Reuse

If you've already subscribed to Claude Pro ($20/month) or Claude Max ($100-200/month), through TalkCody's official OAuth authentication, you can directly use the quota within your subscription.

How to use:

  1. Open TalkCody Settings → API Keys → Anthropic (Claude)
  2. Click "Sign in with Claude"
  3. Complete authorization in the browser and paste the authorization code
  4. Start using Claude Sonnet, Claude Opus, and other models

Advantages:

  • No need to purchase additional APIs, use existing subscriptions
  • Real-time usage dashboard to monitor 5-hour and 7-day usage
  • Automatic token refresh, no need to log in repeatedly

1.2 ChatGPT Plus/Pro Subscription Reuse

Similarly, if you've already subscribed to ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) or ChatGPT Pro ($200/month), you can also directly reuse through TalkCody.

How to use:

  1. Open TalkCody Settings → API Keys → OpenAI
  2. Click "Sign in with OpenAI"
  3. Complete authorization in the browser
  4. Start using GPT-5.2, GPT-5.2-Codex, and other models

Advantages:

  • Reuse existing subscriptions, no additional API costs
  • Use the latest GPT-5.2 series models
  • Automatic token refresh for a smooth experience

1.3 GitHub Copilot Subscription Reuse

GitHub Copilot is also a great choice, especially if you're already using Copilot.

How to use:

  1. Open TalkCody Settings → API Keys → GitHub Copilot
  2. Click "Sign in with GitHub"
  3. Enter user code in the browser to complete authorization
  4. Ensure GitHub Copilot model features are enabled

Advantages:

  • GitHub Copilot can access top-tier models like Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, etc.

Strategy 2: Use Coding Plan Cost-Effective Solution

Coding Plan is a coding-specific subscription plan provided by MiniMax, Zhipu AI, and Moonshot, designed specifically for high-frequency coding scenarios. Compared to direct API billing, it can save significant costs.

2.1 What is Coding Plan?

Coding Plan providers and their supported models:

ModelProviderFeatures
MiniMax M2.1MiniMaxHigh-performance Chinese large model
GLM 4.7Zhipu AIOptimized for coding
Kimi (K2)MoonshotMoonshot reasoning model

These models have dedicated Coding Plan API endpoints optimized for programming tasks.

2.2 Coding Plan Advantages

Compared to purchasing APIs directly, Coding Plan has obvious advantages:

1. Extremely Cost-Effective

  • Subscription mode, fixed cost, unlimited calls
  • Save 50-80% costs in high-frequency usage scenarios compared to pay-as-you-go billing

2. Programming Task Optimization

  • API endpoints specifically optimized for coding scenarios
  • More accurate responses, higher code generation quality

3. Built-in MCP Servers TalkCody has built-in MCP servers for MiniMax M2.1 and GLM 4.7, providing:

  • Web Search: Search for latest technical documentation, API references, programming questions
  • Image Recognition: Analyze error screenshots, understand UI design mockups, interpret flowcharts

After configuring Coding Plan, the API Key will automatically sync to the MCP server without additional configuration.

2.3 Simple Configuration

Just 3 steps to get started:

  1. Get API Key

  2. Configure API Key

    • Open TalkCody Settings → API Keys
    • Fill in the API key for the corresponding provider

  3. Enable Coding Plan

    • Check the "Use Coding Plan" toggle
    • Save settings to start using

Strategy 3: 9 Free Usage Methods

If you don't want to pay for now, or want to experience different models first, TalkCody supports up to 9 free usage methods.

Completely Free Solutions

1. TalkCody Free

Official free service, ready to use out of the box

  • GitHub login authentication required
  • Provides high-performance MiniMax M2.1 model
  • Built-in no configuration, suitable for beginners

2. Qwen Code

Alibaba Tongyi Qianwen coding model

  • Completely free, strong coding capabilities
  • Use through OAuth authentication

Platform Free Quotas

4. Google AI Studio

Generous free quota

  • 1500 requests per day (RPD)
  • 15 requests per minute (RPM)
  • Gemini 2.5 Flash / Flash Lite models

How to use: Visit Google AI Studio to get API Key → Configure in TalkCody

Best for: Daily light usage, testing and learning

5. Ollama Cloud

Cloud-based free large models

  • Daily/weekly free quotas
  • Access top-tier models: MiniMax M2.1, GLM 4.7, Gemini 3 Flash, Kimi K2 Thinking

How to use:

# After installing Ollama, log in to your account
ollama login

# Activate cloud models (run on first use)
ollama run minimax-m2.1:cloud
ollama run glm-4.7:cloud
ollama run gemini-3-flash-preview:cloud

6. GitHub Copilot Free

GitHub Copilot now offers a free plan with a certain amount of free quota per month, suitable for light usage.

Local Running Solutions

7. Ollama

Local execution, completely free

  • Completely free, offline privacy, unlimited usage
  • Supports Qwen2.5-Coder, Llama 3.2, and other models

How to use:

# Download models
ollama pull qwen2.5-coder
ollama pull llama3.2

# After starting, TalkCody automatically detects local service

Advantages: Privacy and security, no internet connection required

8. LM Studio

Friendly local model management tool

  • Intuitive interface, convenient model management
  • Compatible with OpenAI API
  • Start local server, TalkCody connects automatically

How to use: Download model → Load Model → Enable Local Server → TalkCody connects

Aggregation Platforms

9. OpenRouter

Rich free models

  • Always maintains a large number of free models
  • Early access to new models
  • Unified interface, rich variety

How to use: Register OpenRouter → Get API Key → Search and select free models (usually with :free suffix)

Conclusion

The problem of AI coding costs is essentially a problem of resource utilization efficiency. Many developers have already subscribed to various services but haven't fully utilized them.

TalkCody's design philosophy is: Make every cent you spend count.

By combining these 3 strategies, you can completely:

  • ✅ Dramatically reduce your AI coding costs
  • ✅ Enjoy the coding experience of top-tier models
  • ✅ Not be locked in by any vendor
  • ✅ Switch to the most suitable model at any time

Related Reading:

Back to Blog