Faceless YouTube (budget)
Video · Creator
Cheap · 2 videos / week
$5
per month
ClaudeFree
ElevenLabs$5 Starter
CapCutFree42 stacks · medium 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
$5/mo
Median
$53/mo
Most
$340/mo
One paying client / weekly cadence
CheapStandardProHeavy
CapCutFreeWindsurf (Cascade)
Code · Workflow
Cheap · Solo, daily PRs
$15
per month
Windsurf$15 Pro
AI music for video
Audio · Music
Cheap · Daily shorts
$20
per month
Suno$10 Pro
Udio$10 ProCapCutFreeCursor (IDE-first)
Code · Workflow
Cheap · Indie dev, daily PRs
$20
per month
Cursor$20 Pro
UGC ads (CapCut-only)
Marketing · Ads
Cheap · 30 ads/wk, Pro features
$24
per month
Claude$15 (rate-limit ok)
CapCut$9 ProSelf-hosted scheduler
Marketing · Distribution
Cheap · Self-host, small team (no per-seat)
$25
per month
CapCutFreeClaude$20
Postiz$5 (same VPS, multi-user)AI music for vlogs
Audio · Music
Cheap · 2 vlogs/wk, Udio Pro
$26
per month
Udio$10 ProDescript$16 Creator
Inbox triage (free)
Productivity · Inbox
Cheap · 1 inbox + Pro Claude
$26
per month
Gmail$6 Workspace
Claude$20
Claude Code only
Code · Workflow
Cheap · Indie dev, daily PRs
$32
per month
Claude Code$20 Pro
CodeRabbit$12/devShip code with AI
Code · Workflow
Cheap · Indie team, 1 to 3 devs, private repo
$32
per month
Claude$20 (covers Claude Code)
Claude CodeBundled
CodeRabbit$12/devLinkedIn (for yourself)
Writing · Personal
Cheap · Daily + threads
$33
per month
Claude$20
Typefully$13Solo podcast (lean)
Audio · Podcast
Cheap · 2/wk + clips
$35
per month
Descript$16
Opus Clip$19 StarterInbox triage
Productivity · Inbox
Cheap · 1 inbox + assistant
$36
per month
Gmail$6
Superhuman$25
Claude$20
Cloud IDE with Replit
Code · Builder
Cheap · Solo, shipping
$40
per month
Claude$20
Replit$20 Core
Antigravity (Google)
Code · Workflow
Cheap · Solo dev, full IDE features
$40
per month
Antigravity~$20 (post-GA est.)
Claude$20 Pro
Codex (CLI + cloud)
Code · Workflow
Cheap · Indie dev, daily PRs, ChatGPT Plus + Claude Pro
$40
per month
Codex$20 (bundled with ChatGPT Plus)
Claude$20 Pro
Android app with AI
Code · Mobile
Cheap · Solo, multiple apps
$42
per month
Claude$20
Cursor$20
AsAndroid StudioFree
+ play-account$2
TikTok character (audio + text)
Video · Creator
Cheap · Daily + 3 shorts
$42
per month
Claude$20
ElevenLabs$22
CapCutFreeiOS app with AI
Code · Mobile
Cheap · Solo, multiple apps + ads
$48
per month
Claude$20
Cursor$20
XcodeFree
+ developer-program$8
Cross-platform short-form
Marketing · Distribution
Cheap · Daily across 3 brands
$49
per month
CapCutFreeClaude$20
Post Bridge$29 ProAI thumbnails + ad creative
Marketing · Visual
Standard · Daily creator output
$50
per month
Claude$20
Midjourney$30 Standard
CanvaFreeAI newsletter (Substack)
Writing · Newsletter
Standard · Pro research + paid subs
$53
per month
Perplexity$20
Claude$20
Substack10% on paid
Typefully$13Autonomous research agent
Research · Intelligence
Standard · Weekly research runs
$59
per month
Manus$39 Starter
Claude$20
UI-first with v0
Code · Builder
Standard · Solo, shipping
$60
per month
v0$20 Premium
Cursor$20 Pro
Claude$20
Multilingual content factory
Writing · Content
Standard · Daily multilingual posts
$60
per month
Claude$20
Qwen$25 (DashScope batch)
Mistral$15 Pro
iOS + Android with Expo
Code · Mobile
Standard · Solo, multiple apps + EAS Production
$67
per month
Claude$20
Cursor$20
Expo$19 Production+ stores$8
Viral content engine
Marketing · Distribution
Standard · Solo, daily swings
$68
per month
CapCutFreePost Bridge$29 ProFull-stack with Lovable
Code · Builder
Standard · Side project shipping
$70
per month
Claude$20
Lovable$50 Builder
Live trend research
Research · Intelligence
Standard · All three at Pro
$70
per month
Grok$30 X Premium+
Perplexity$20
Claude$20
UGC ad creative
Marketing · Ads
Standard · 30 ads/wk
$70
per month
Claude$20
ElevenLabs$22
CapCut$15AI newsletter
Writing · Newsletter
Standard · 2,500–10k subs
$72
per month
Feedly$8
Claude$20
Beehiiv$39Typefully$13Cold outbound (solo)
Sales · Outbound
Standard · 300 sends/mo
$75
per month
Apollo$49 BasicClaude$20
Gmail$6 Workspace
Indie SaaS
Code · Builder
Standard · Side project
$75
per month
Claude$20
ChatGPT$20
Figma$15
+ infra$20
Indie SaaS (Gemini long-context)
Code · Builder
Standard · Side project
$75
per month
Gemini$20
Claude$20
Figma$15
+ infra$20
AI-native posting
Marketing · Distribution
Standard · Higher cadence + more polish
$79
per month
Ghost Feed$79 ProCapCutFreeSolo podcast
Audio · Podcast
Standard · 2 / week + clips
$87
per month
Riverside$15Descript$16
Castmagic$23Opus Clip$19+ misc$14
Faceless YouTube
Video · Creator
Standard · 3 videos / week
$92
per month
Perplexity$20
Claude$20
ElevenLabs$22
Runway$15CapCut$15TikTok character
Video · Creator
Standard · 1 ep + 3 shorts / day
$92
per month
Claude$20
ElevenLabs$22
CapCutFreeLinkedIn ghostwriting
Writing · Agency
Standard · 3 clients · 12 posts/wk
$129
per month
Granola$18Claude$20
Taplio$55Canva$15+ misc$21
Cheap bulk LLM automation
Code · Backend
Standard · 1M calls/mo
$140
per month
Claude$20 (Pro for eval)
DeepSeek$120
Open-weight LLM stack
Code · Backend
Pro · Hosted inference, real volume
$170
per month
Meta AI$100 (Groq scale tier)
Mistral$50 API
Claude$20 (eval Pro)
Cold outbound
Sales · Outbound
Pro · 2 SDRs, 5k sends/mo
$340
per month
Apollo$79
Clay$149Claude$20
Smartlead$94HubSpotFree