Tokens are the currency
What a model actually reads, and what you pay for.
A model doesn't read letters or words. It reads tokens, and every bill and every limit is counted in them.
- {"question":4"where_is_order",8"order_id":6"A123",7"expected":4"2026-10-12"}13
Each word counted on its own. Inside a sentence, neighbours can share tokens.
Real data from gemini-3.5-flash-lite, 2026-10-16
Real counts from Gemini's tokenizer. Hindi and Marathi are cheap here. JSON and code are not: every brace, quote and underscore costs.
Your agent sends order data as JSON instead of a plain sentence. What happens to the cost?