The short version
- Agents run on thinking from Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok, and the labs charge for it.
- Your provider plans: connect any number or mix to your harness at no extra charge. You pay provider subscriptions separately.
- Fuel: prepaid thinking you buy from Bench. Unspent Fuel stays in your tank.
- What the labs charge is on the rate card, not in a blog post.
Where the thinking comes from
When an agent drafts a supplement letter or reads a set of photos, a model at one of the AI labs does the thinking. Those labs charge for it. That cost sits outside the Bench software fee and outside the Mac, in its own tank, the same way a truck comes without diesel in it. There are two ways to fill it.
Your AI Plan
If your office already pays for Claude, ChatGPT, or Grok, connect those plans to Bench. Any number or mix of customer-owned provider plans can connect at no extra charge. You pay provider subscriptions separately. The separate $100 monthly Your AI Plan remains available only to eligible legacy accounts that bought Aurelius before connections were included.
Fuel
If you'd rather not manage lab plans, buy Fuel from us. Fuel is prepaid thinking. You buy an amount, the agents spend it, and what they don't spend stays in your tank. What the labs charge for that thinking is on the rate card, which is a product page, not this post. We keep prices on one page so nobody has to wonder which copy is current.
What this post isn't
It isn't a promise that agents come with thinking included. They don't, anywhere. And it isn't a comparison of lab prices. The rate card does that.
Questions
What is Your AI Plan?
An optional $100 monthly plan for eligible accounts that bought Aurelius before provider connections were included. New harness connections are included. You pay provider subscriptions separately.
What is Fuel?
Prepaid thinking you buy from Bench when you don't plug in your own plan. The agents spend it. What they don't spend stays in your tank.
Where do I see what the labs charge?
On the rate card. It's a product page so there's one current copy.
What happened to tokens?
The old tokens page now goes to Fuel. Same idea, plainer name.
Keep going
Every Bench word above is on Glossary / FAQs, in plain English.