Cost of Autonomy

What it is

Cost of autonomy refers to the token usage, computation, and time that agentic systems consume. Agents often use many more tokens than simple prompts—planning, reasoning, tool calls, error handling, and multiple attempts add up. This makes agents significantly more expensive than single queries.

Why it matters

Agent costs can surprise you. A task that costs pennies as a simple prompt might cost pounds as an agent workflow. Understanding cost structures helps you decide when agent automation is worth it and design agents that balance capability with efficiency.