We’ve been managing separate subscriptions for different AI models for a while now, and it’s getting ridiculous. We have OpenAI, Anthropic, and a couple others, each with their own billing cycle and API key management.
I was reading about platform subscriptions that bundle multiple AI models into a single price, and the promise is that this eliminates API key sprawl and makes cost calculations easier.
But here’s where I’m getting stuck: when we compare Make and Zapier, we’re also comparing two different licensing approaches. Make charges per operation. Zapier charges per task. If we add a third variable—whether the AI models are bundled or spread across separate subscriptions—the comparison becomes almost impossible to follow.
I’ve seen people claim that consolidating to one AI subscription can make automations significantly cheaper because you’re not paying for redundant or unused API keys. One case I found mentioned consolidating to a unified model access plan and seeing close to 40% cost savings in their Make vs Zapier evaluation.
But I’m not sure if that’s because the unified subscription itself is cheaper, or because it forces you to be more intentional about which models you actually use.
Has anyone gone from separate AI subscriptions to a unified one and actually re-evaluated their Make vs Zapier costs afterward? Did consolidating the AI models change which platform made more financial sense for your team?