Faceless YouTube (budget)
Video · Creator
Cheap · Daily uploads
$25
per month
Claude$0 (rate-limit ok)
ElevenLabs$22 Creator
CapCut$3 pro-rated42 stacks · heavy usage
What does an AI stack cost?
Every tested stack on aistack.sh, ranked by total monthly spend. Pick a usage tier. Light is the side-project budget, heavy is what an agency actually pays once they're billing clients.
Cheapest
$25/mo
Median
$210/mo
Most
$1200/mo
Agency or full-time operator
CheapStandardProHeavy
CapCut$3 pro-ratedAI music for video
Audio · Music
Cheap · Multi-account agency
$45
per month
Suno$30 Pro
Udio$10 ProCapCut$5 Pro pro-ratedUGC ads (CapCut-only)
Marketing · Ads
Cheap · Brand testing 100/wk
$45
per month
Claude$30 API low-volume
CapCut$15 (multi-seat)LinkedIn (for yourself)
Writing · Personal
Cheap · Daily + carousels
$48
per month
Claude$20
Typefully$13
Canva$15Self-hosted scheduler
Marketing · Distribution
Cheap · Hosted Postiz (skip ops)
$49
per month
CapCutFreeClaude$20
Postiz$29 CloudAI music for vlogs
Audio · Music
Standard · Daily long-form
$50
per month
Udio$30 ProDescript$30 Pro
+ misc-$10 (overlap)
Inbox triage (free)
Productivity · Inbox
Standard · EA + 3 inboxes
$78
per month
Gmail$36
Claude$20
+ misc$22
AI thumbnails + ad creative
Marketing · Visual
Standard · Brand or agency
$95
per month
Claude$20
Midjourney$60 Pro
Canva$15 ProCold outbound (solo)
Sales · Outbound
Standard · 500 sends/mo (max before Smartlead)
$105
per month
Apollo$79 ProClaude$20
Gmail$6 Workspace
Solo podcast (lean)
Audio · Podcast
Standard · Daily, multi-show
$110
per month
Descript$30 Pro
Opus Clip$59 Pro+ hosting$21
Inbox triage
Productivity · Inbox
Standard · EA + 3 inboxes
$120
per month
Gmail$36
Superhuman$75
Claude$20
+ misc-$11
AI newsletter (Substack)
Writing · Newsletter
Standard · Daily + paid tier monetized
$130
per month
Perplexity$20
Claude$80 API
Substack10% on paid
Typefully$28Live trend research
Research · Intelligence
Standard · Multi-niche analyst, daily briefs
$130
per month
Grok$40 SuperGrok
Perplexity$20
Claude$70 (Pro + API top-up)
Cross-platform short-form
Marketing · Distribution
Standard · Agency, 10 brands
$133
per month
CapCut$15 ProClaude$20
Post Bridge$99 Business (incl. multi-brand)Cloud IDE with Replit
Code · Builder
Pro · Small team
$155
per month
Claude$20
Replit$135 (3 seats × $35 Teams + 1 dedicated)
Claude Code only
Code · Workflow
Pro · Heavy agentic use, multiple parallel sessions
$160
per month
Claude Code$100 Max
CodeRabbit$60 (5 devs)Ship code with AI
Code · Workflow
Pro · 5-dev startup, daily PRs, Max plans
$160
per month
Claude$20
Claude Code$100 Max plan (heavy use)
CodeRabbit$60 (5 devs)Windsurf (Cascade)
Code · Workflow
Pro · 5-dev team
$175
per month
Windsurf$175 (5× $35 Teams)
Viral content engine
Marketing · Distribution
Pro · Agency, multi-brand
$198
per month
CapCut$15 ProPost Bridge$99 Business (multi-brand)Antigravity (Google)
Code · Workflow
Pro · Team on Google Cloud
$200
per month
Antigravity~$100 (5 seats)
Claude$100 (5× $20 Pro)
Cursor (IDE-first)
Code · Workflow
Pro · 5-dev team, Business plan
$200
per month
Cursor$200 (5× $40 Business)
Solo podcast
Audio · Podcast
Pro · Daily, multi-show
$210
per month
Riverside$24Descript$30
Castmagic$59Opus Clip$59+ hosting$38
TikTok character (audio + text)
Video · Creator
Pro · Multi-character agency
$210
per month
Claude$80 API
ElevenLabs$99
CapCut$15+ misc$16
Autonomous research agent
Research · Intelligence
Pro · Daily delegated work
$219
per month
Manus$199 Pro
Claude$20
Full-stack with Lovable
Code · Builder
Pro · Full-time, multiple apps
$220
per month
Claude$20
Lovable$200 Scale
Android app with AI
Code · Mobile
Pro · Small team
$220
per month
Claude$20
Cursor$200 (5x $40 Business)
AsAndroid StudioFree
+ play-account$0 (org-wide)
Indie SaaS
Code · Builder
Pro · Full-time founder
$220
per month
Claude$80 API
ChatGPT$20
Figma$15
+ infra$105
iOS app with AI
Code · Mobile
Pro · Small team, 3 to 5 devs
$220
per month
Claude$20
Cursor$200 (5x $40 Business)
XcodeFree
+ developer-program$0 (org-wide)
AI-native posting
Marketing · Distribution
Pro · Multi-brand
$237
per month
Ghost Feed$237 (3 brands × Pro)CapCutFreeUI-first with v0
Code · Builder
Pro · Full-time, multiple apps
$240
per month
v0$200 Team
Cursor$20
Claude$20
Indie SaaS (Gemini long-context)
Code · Builder
Pro · Full-time founder
$240
per month
Gemini$120 API tier
Claude$20
Figma$15
+ infra$85
UGC ad creative
Marketing · Ads
Pro · Agency · 100 ads/wk
$240
per month
Claude$80 API
ElevenLabs$99
CapCut$15AI newsletter
Writing · Newsletter
Pro · 50k+ subs, daily issues
$245
per month
Feedly$8
Claude$80 API
Beehiiv$129Typefully$28Faceless YouTube
Video · Creator
Pro · Daily uploads, 2 channels
$310
per month
Perplexity$20
Claude$80 API
ElevenLabs$99
Runway$95CapCut$15TikTok character
Video · Creator
Pro · Multi-character agency
$310
per month
Claude$80 API
ElevenLabs$99
+ misc$81
iOS + Android with Expo
Code · Mobile
Pro · Small team
$320
per month
Claude$20
Cursor$200
Expo$99 Enterprise+ stores$0 (org-wide)
Multilingual content factory
Writing · Content
Pro · Agency, 10+ markets
$320
per month
Claude$80 (Pro + API)
Qwen$160 (volume)
Mistral$80 (API)
Codex (CLI + cloud)
Code · Workflow
Pro · Cloud-leaning team, ChatGPT Pro plans
$320
per month
Codex$200 ChatGPT Pro
Claude$100 (5× $20 Pro)
+ misc$20 (extra cloud-task budget)
LinkedIn ghostwriting
Writing · Agency
Heavy · 8 clients · 30 posts/wk
$420
per month
Granola$18Claude$200 API
Taplio$155 multi-acctCanva$15+ misc$32
Cold outbound
Sales · Outbound
Heavy · 5 SDRs, 30k sends/mo
$1150
per month
Apollo$390
Clay$349Claude$80 API
Smartlead$179HubSpot$150 Starter
Cheap bulk LLM automation
Code · Backend
Heavy · 10M calls/mo
$1200
per month
Claude$80 (eval + sampling)
DeepSeek$1,120
Open-weight LLM stack
Code · Backend
Heavy · Self-hosted on rented GPUs
$1200
per month
Meta AI$1,100 (rented GPU box for Llama)
Mistral$0 (also on the same box)
Claude$80 (regular eval + drift checks)