THE REAL COST OF FREE AI TOOLS: FREEMIUM TRAPS, DATA COSTS AND WHEN TO PAY

Free tier vs paid: rank the upgrades

GitHub Copilot2,000 completions/moPro $10/mo, unlimitedUncappedTrains data by default
Gemini32K token contextAI Pro, 1M context31xHuman reviewers keep chats
Grammarly100 AI prompts/moPro $12/mo, 2,000/mo20xUnlimited is Enterprise-only
Otter.ai300 min, 30 min/call capPro $16.99/mon/a3 lifetime file imports only
Suno50 credits/day (10 songs)Pro $8/mo, 2,500 credits1.7xNo commercial use on free

Multiples compare the stated free ceiling to the entry paid tier; 'n/a' means no comparable cap was published.