Warp’s New Pricing Still Doesn’t Add Up

The AI devtools pricing saga continues…and Warp is the latest to solve unsustainable math with a new pricing page.

Yesterday, Warp announced its new “Build” plan: a $20/month base with “usage-based reload credits,” “bring-your-own-key (BYOK),” and other words meant to sound like freedom. In practice, it’s a pricing reset with a friendlier headline.

Let’s unpack.

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TL;DR
Warp’s new pricing is just the same problem in a different coat of paint:

• Overages renamed “reloads”

• BYOK that still costs you

• A “simplified” plan that’s anything but

Transparent pricing isn’t hard…it’s just rare.
That’s why we’re sticking with it.

👉 Try Kilo Code — and actually pay for what you use.

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From “Turbo” to “Build” — New Plan, Same Questions

Warp has “simplified” its pricing by removing the old Pro, Turbo, and Lightspeed plans and replacing them with a single Build plan. That sounds nice, until you realize “simplified” now means:

• $20/month for 1,500 credits

• “Reload credits” that cost extra (but still more than your base credits)

• BYOK (Bring Your Own Key)…but you still have to pay Warp to use it

So yes, even if you’re paying OpenAI or Anthropic directly for your usage, you’re also paying Warp for the privilege of running that same request through their servers.

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The Credit Illusion

Let’s do some quick math.

In the old Warp plans, “overage” credits cost up to 8x more than the included ones — a pricing curve that Warp itself admitted “felt like a rip-off.”

Now, under the new Build plan, “Reload” credits are only 2x more expensive than base credits.

The underlying problem hasn’t changed:
Warp still has a two-tier economy. Cheap credits to make the plan look good, and premium-priced reloads to make it profitable.

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“Bring Your Own Key”

Developers have been begging for BYOK, and Warp finally delivered… sort of.

Yes, you can now connect your own API key for OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, but only if you’re on the paid plan. And even then, Warp keeps the meter running because your requests still hit their servers first.

In other words, you’re paying twice. Once to the model provider, and again to Warp for overhead.

It’s the AI equivalent of a corking fee: you bring your own bottle, but the restaurant still gets paid.

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“Pay for What You Use” — Unless You’re a Business

The new Business plan is where things get extra spicy.

Warp states that Business users get 1,500 credits per user (non-rollover), plus shared reload credits that do rollover. So if you’re trying to reason about your team’s spend, you’ll need a spreadsheet, a tarot deck, and possibly divine intervention.

With Kilo’s Team and Enterprise plans, you pay per token at the exact model provider’s rate. You can pool usage across your entire team and track every request down to the user, model, and project. It’s transparent, predictable, and built for teams that actually need to trust their tools.

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The Pattern Nobody Wants to Admit

If you’ve been following this space, you’ve probably noticed a pattern:

1. Companies launch “unlimited” or “flat-rate” plans to drive signups.

2. They realize inference costs are non-linear and unsustainable.

3. They quietly roll out “credit” systems and “reloads.”

4. The math never adds up, and developers get whiplash.

We saw this with Cursor. We’re seeing it again with Warp.

The story is the same. Sell predictability, then take it away.

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What Developers Actually Want

It’s not complicated:

• Transparent usage pricing.

• The ability to bring your own key without a markup.

• No arbitrary limits.

• No “premium” pools or shadow models.

• Predictability.

That’s the model we built Kilo Code on. You pay what things cost. You can bring your own key for free. You see every token, every request, every model, and every dollar.

No “credits.” No “overage reloads.” No “Build plans.” Just build.

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Final Thought

Warp’s “Build” plan doesn’t simplify pricing; it resets it in their favor. If you’re an existing user, your $10–$15 plan quietly becomes $20 with fewer included credits. If you want to use your own key, you still pay Warp for the privilege. And if you need more AI, you’re right back in the reload economy — paying extra for the same compute.

At Kilo Code, we designed the opposite.

No credit buckets. No reload markups. No double-charging for your own keys. You pay per token; directly, transparently, and at cost.

When models get cheaper, you pay less. When you use more, you see exactly where it’s going. No mystery currency, no surprise invoices, and no “new plan” announcement every quarter.

We don’t move the goalposts. We move code.