The setup #
A Claude Max subscription at $200/month is a serious line item, and the moment you cancel it the question becomes: where does that $200 go instead to keep the same (or better) capability? This guide walks through one honest split and the reasoning behind each dollar, so you can adjust it to your own workload.
The original prompt that kicked this off:
One way to split the $200 #
The split below is a starting point, not a prescription. It favors breadth (one strong subscription, one upgraded editor, and a pool of API credits for experiments) over putting everything on one provider.
| Bucket | Spend | What it buys |
|---|---|---|
| Kimi | $100 | A high-context frontier subscription for long-horizon agent work and big-document reasoning. |
| Cursor Pro+ | $60 | More premium fast-model requests in the editor you already code in. |
| API credits | $40 | A pool to try new models and run one-off experiments without a monthly commitment. |
| Total | ||
| $200 | ||
| Coverage across subscription, editor, and experimentation. |
If most of your spend is one long agent task after another, weight the subscription bucket higher and shrink API credits. If you mostly poke at new models for an hour each, flip it: bigger API pool, smaller subscription.
Why this shape #
Three buckets survive almost any reshuffle because they cover three different failure modes. A subscription gives you predictable capacity for your default workflow. An upgraded editor tier removes the per-request friction that makes you second-guess every prompt. API credits are the escape hatch when a new model drops and you want to test it before paying for it monthly.
Putting all $200 into a single subscription is tempting and sometimes right, but it leaves you locked to one provider’s roadmap and one pricing change away from a bad month. Splitting keeps your optionality.
Adjust it to your workload #
The honest answer to “what would you do with the $200” depends on what you actually do all day. Heavy agent-coding load? Lead with the subscription. Mostly evaluating new models? Lead with API credits. Already happy with your editor’s free tier? Drop the editor upgrade and move that $60 into the API pool.
Run your own numbers with the budget tool to see how local hardware changes the math. For some workloads a one-time rig purchase beats any monthly split within a few months.