Spendassay Research
The byline behind the Spendassay blog
Spendassay Research is the team that compiles the benchmarks and field notes on this blog. We audit AI spend for a living — idle seats, duplicate tools, metered pricing, and the gap between what an AI tool costs and what it actually ships — and we write down what we learn.
The rule for everything here is the rule for the product: every number carries a proof level, and every figure that can be cited is cited to a primary source, with the date we read it. When the research makes our own case harder — as the METR and DX findings on AI coding ROI do — we lead with it anyway.
How we measure is public, layer by layer, in the methodology. For corrections or a source we got wrong, email hello@spendassay.com.
Everything by Spendassay Research
Jul 25, 2026 · 6 min read · Cost and benchmarks
The metered traps hiding in AI tool pricing
Jul 23, 2026 · 7 min read · Finance operations
How to forecast next year's AI budget
Jul 17, 2026 · 6 min read · Buying and renewals
How to negotiate AI renewals from evidence, not vibes
Jul 15, 2026 · 5 min read · Waste and recovery
The hidden cost of idle AI seats — and how to find them in an afternoon
Jul 13, 2026 · 6 min read · Waste and recovery
How to find unused GitHub Copilot licenses
Jul 11, 2026 · 7 min read · Cost and benchmarks
Cursor vs Copilot vs Claude Code: the real cost per engineer
Jul 9, 2026 · 6 min read · Waste and recovery
Do you need both Copilot and Cursor?
Jul 7, 2026 · 7 min read · Buying and renewals
What each AI vendor's admin console actually exposes
Jul 5, 2026 · 7 min read · Cost and benchmarks
How much should you spend on AI tools per engineer?
Jul 3, 2026 · 8 min read · Finance operations
How to file AI costs in your books
Jul 1, 2026 · 6 min read · Cost and benchmarks
What share of the engineering budget should AI be?
Jun 22, 2026 · 7 min read · Finance operations
Who owns the AI budget?
Jun 20, 2026 · 8 min read · Measuring the payoff
What the research actually says about AI coding ROI
Jun 18, 2026 · 7 min read · Finance operations
What an AI cost report is, and how to build one
Jun 16, 2026 · 6 min read · Measuring the payoff
Honest AI ROI modeling: ranges, not fake precision
Jun 14, 2026 · 7 min read · Buying and renewals
How to attribute OpenAI and Anthropic API costs to teams
Jun 12, 2026 · 6 min read · Waste and recovery
What good AI seat utilization actually looks like
Jun 10, 2026 · 7 min read · Measuring the payoff
Why your AI ROI number is wrong
Jun 8, 2026 · 7 min read · Buying and renewals
The evidence pack that wins an AI renewal
Jun 6, 2026 · 7 min read · Waste and recovery
Finding shadow AI spend on the company card