alt Hacker NewsAre using the APIs worth the extra cost vs using the web tools? I haven't used any API tools, I am not a programmer, but I have generated many millions of tokens in the web canvas, something that would cost way more than the $20 I spend for them.
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jfim • yesterday at 8:35 PM
If you're using Claude code or cursor, for example, they can read files automatically instead of needing the user to copy paste back and forth.
Both can generate code though, I've generated code using the web interface and it works, it's just a bit tedious to copy back and forth.
I think the idea that LLMs are incentivized to write verbose code fails when one considers non-API usage.
Like you, I’ve accumulated tons of LLM usage via apps and web apps. I can actually see how the models are much more succinct there compared to the API interface.
My uneducated guess is that LLM models try to fit their responses into the “output tokens” limit, which is surely much lower in UIs than what can be set in pay-as-you-go interfaces.