Business users of AI need to better understand and monitor token consumption
20 October 2026 | Research
Article | PDF | Monetisation Platforms| AI and Data Platforms
"Enterprises cannot scale AI confidently while its core unit of cost remains so hard to predict and control."
Not all AI monetisation is based on token usage, but OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Cloud Vertex AI, Microsoft Azure and Meta all use token-based models for some of their offerings. Enterprises are currently struggling to manage this poorly understood unit of measurement, which has already grown fourteen-fold this year and is now running into trillions of tokens per week.
USD549
Log in to check if this content is included in your content subscription.
Author
Justin van der Lande
Research DirectorRelated items
Tracker report
Operators’ network-related AI activity: trends and analysis 2018−1H 2026
Case study
Managing the cost of AI at scale: how AT&T cut AI deployment costs by nearly 90%
Article
OpenAI’s acquisition strategy reshapes the enterprise AI professional services market