# Cost simulator

Source: https://redcrown.ai/docs/guides/cost-simulator/

Estimate hosted and self-hosted cost for a model and token counts.

## 1. Estimate

Enter a model ID and your expected monthly token volume. The simulator returns projected hosted-API cost and self-hosted GPU cost per cloud provider.

**UI**

Open **Advanced** and navigate to **Simulator** (`/advanced/simulator`). Pick a model from the dropdown, enter your expected input and output token counts, then click **Estimate**. The results show projected hosted-API cost and self-hosted cost for AWS, Azure, and GCP.

**CLI**

Not available via the CLI. Use the app or MCP.

**MCP**

Call `simulate_cost` with a model ID and token counts:

```
{
  "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
  "input_tokens": 500,
  "output_tokens": 200,
  "monthly_volume": 100000
}
```

The response includes **projected hosted-API cost** and **self-hosted cost per cloud** (AWS, Azure, GCP) at the given monthly volume.

Last verified 2026-07-02.