# What is a tracked call? > A tracked call is one metered event, and a big call costs more than a small one. The meter counts work rather than requests. The arithmetic, shown. URL: https://getculpa.com/what-is-a-tracked-call Last reviewed: 2026-08-02 ## Answer A tracked call is one model request a cost ledger recorded, and it isn't a flat unit. Culpa, a local-first LLM cost, margin, and forecast ledger, counts one credit for the call plus one more for each complete 10,000 tokens it moved, so a large call costs several times a small one. The meter counts work rather than requests. ## Why this happens Every metered developer tool has to answer one question: what is a unit. Counting requests is simple and wrong, because a 400-token classification and a 90,000-token document read are the same request and nothing like the same work. Counting tokens alone is fair and unreadable, because nobody plans in tokens. The workable answer is both, and it means your allowance depletes at a rate set by your prompt sizes rather than by your traffic. Teams size a plan on call count, then find the number moving for another reason. ## What this usually looks like - Your allowance is depleting faster than your call count suggests it should. - Nobody knows the average token size of a call in your busiest feature. - A plan was picked from request volume alone, with no reference to prompt size. - Usage climbed after a prompt change that added no traffic at all. ## Common mistakes - Sizing a metered plan on request count. Why it hurts: A heavy call can cost several times a light one, so the same traffic lands anywhere in a wide range. Do instead: Multiply call count by the credits each call actually costs at your average token size. - Forgetting that cached input still counts. Why it hurts: Caching cuts your provider bill and leaves the metered token volume where it was. Do instead: Count cached tokens in your sizing. They save money and they don't save credits. - Assuming reasoning tokens burn the allowance too. Why it hurts: You over-size the plan and pay for headroom you were never going to use. Do instead: Leave reasoning tokens out of the credit arithmetic. They're recorded and they're free. ## Self-check - Total input, cached and output tokens for one busy feature over a week. - Divide by the call count to get average total tokens per call. - Work out the credits one average call costs: one, plus one per complete 10,000 tokens. - Multiply by monthly call volume. That's your real credit demand, not your call count. - Repeat for your heaviest feature separately, because an average hides it. ## The same call count, at three token sizes (illustrative) 200,000 calls a month, metered at one credit per call plus one for each complete 10,000 total tokens, where total is input plus cached plus output. The three token profiles are modelled. A 3,000-token call: 1 + floor(3,000 / 10,000) = 1 credit A 12,000-token call: 1 + floor(12,000 / 10,000) = 2 credits A 45,000-token call: 1 + floor(45,000 / 10,000) = 5 credits 200,000 light calls = 200,000 credits 200,000 heavy calls = 1,000,000 credits, the whole entry allowance Identical traffic, a five-fold spread in what it consumes Call count told you nothing here. The same 200,000 requests consume a fifth of an entry allowance or all of it, and the only variable is how much work each one moved. ## Cost figures Every figure carries its confidence and its source. No figure on this site is provider-reported. - 1 to 5 credits — modelled cost of a single tracked call across a 3,000 to 45,000 token range [estimated] Source: One credit per call plus one per complete 10,000 combined tokens, applied to the three modelled token profiles in the teardown. A range because the profiles are modelled. - 1,000,000 — credits the entry tier carries each month, as published [calculated] Source: Culpa's published plan table, read 2026-08-02, and the same figure in the shipped plan configuration. ## FAQ Q: What counts as one tracked call? A: One recorded model request. It costs one credit, plus one more for each complete 10,000 tokens of input, cached input and output combined. So a small call is a single credit and a large one is several. Q: Do cached tokens burn the allowance? A: Yes. Caching reduces what the provider charges you and leaves the metered token count unchanged, so it saves money without saving credits. Both are worth doing, and they're separate wins. Q: Do reasoning tokens count? A: No. They're recorded because you want to see them, and they're free against the meter. That matters on reasoning-heavy workloads, where they can be a large share of output and would otherwise dominate the credit arithmetic. ## Sources - OpenAI API pricing: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing Run the free Cost Leak Scan: https://app.getculpa.com/scan?source=pseo&slug=what-is-a-tracked-call&cluster=metric Machine-readable index of every guide: https://getculpa.com/api/pages Human-readable index of every guide: https://getculpa.com/guides Site overview: https://app.getculpa.com/llms.txt Privacy: Culpa runs on your infrastructure. Your prompts and responses never leave it. Culpa counts calls to run your plan, and it fails open, so if it ever breaks your app keeps running.