cost-guardian

Cost Guardian

The only Claude Code cost tool that tells you WHERE you're wasting money and HOW to stop.

Other tools show what you spent. Cost Guardian shows what you wasted, what you got for it, and what you could have saved — with an efficiency score, ROI metrics, and model savings calculator that no other tool has.

Zero setup. No Docker. No Grafana. Just install and go.

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What Makes This Different

Every cost tracking tool shows you a number. Cost Guardian gives you intelligence:

Feature	Cost Guardian	ccusage	claude-code-otel	Built-in /cost
Real-time tracking	✅	❌ (post-hoc)	✅	✅
Budget guardrails	✅	❌	❌	❌
Waste detection	✅	❌	❌	❌
Efficiency score	✅	❌	❌	❌
Cost-per-line ROI	✅	❌	❌	❌
Model savings calculator	✅	❌	❌	❌
Anomaly detection	✅	❌	❌	❌
GitHub badge	✅	❌	❌	❌
Per-branch costs	✅	❌	❌	❌
Multi-model comparison	✅	❌	❌	❌
CSV/JSON export	✅	✅	✅	❌
Zero setup	✅	✅	❌ (Docker)	✅

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Insights Engine (No Other Tool Has This)

Efficiency Score

Every session gets a score from 0-100 showing how efficiently you're spending:

Efficiency Score: 68/100
██████████████░░░░░░ Good

Wasted: $1.43 of $4.71 (30%)
  14 redundant file reads ($0.82)
  3 failed/empty bash commands ($0.34)
  2 calls were 3x+ more expensive than average ($0.27)

Cost-Per-Line ROI

Know what you're getting for your money:

Cost per line:    $0.03/line
Lines added:      +247
Lines removed:    -89
Cost per commit:  $1.18/commit

Model Savings Calculator

See how much you could save with different models:

Current spend:    $4.71
Cheapest option:  $1.02 (Claude Haiku 4.5)
Potential saving: $3.69 (78% cheaper)

Anomaly Detection

Catches runaway sessions before they drain your limits:

 ANOMALY: 3.2x your average session cost
This session: $14.20 | Average: $4.40
Top driver: Agent ($9.80, 4x)

GitHub Badge

Add your AI development cost to your README:

![AI Dev Cost](https://img.shields.io/badge/AI_Dev_Cost-$142-2ea44f)

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The Problem

Every Claude Code user has been there:

• "Why did my session use 80% of my daily limit in 20 minutes?"
• "How much did that refactor actually cost me?"
• "I wish I knew this feature would cost $15 before I started"

There's no built-in way to see what you're spending as you spend it. Existing solutions require Docker, Grafana, or OpenTelemetry infrastructure. Most developers just... guess.

The Solution

Cost Guardian is a Claude Code plugin that gives you full cost visibility with zero setup:

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║          COST GUARDIAN - Session Report      ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  Total Cost:     $2.41                       ║
║  Total Tokens:   12.3K                       ║
║  Duration:       18.2 min                    ║
║  Burn Rate:      $0.13/min                   ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  Budget:         $5.00 (hard)                ║
║  Used:           ████████████░░░░░░░░  48%   ║
║  Remaining:      $2.59                       ║
║  Time to limit:  ~20 min                     ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  Per-Tool Breakdown                          ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║  Agent        ███████████████  $1.20 ( 3x)   ║
║  Read         ████████         $0.62 (28x)   ║
║  Edit         █████            $0.34 (12x)   ║
║  Bash         ███              $0.18 ( 8x)   ║
║  Grep         ██               $0.07 (15x)   ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Features

Real-Time Cost Tracking

Every tool call is automatically tracked via hooks. No manual logging. No configuration.

Budget Guardrails

Set spending limits that actually enforce themselves:

• Hard mode: Blocks tool calls when budget is exceeded
• Soft mode: Warns you but lets work continue
• Scopes: per-session, daily, weekly, monthly

Pre-Task Cost Estimation

Before starting work, get a cost prediction:

/cost-estimate add user authentication with OAuth

Cost Estimate: Add user authentication with OAuth

Complexity:    High
Est. Reads:    15-25 files
Est. Edits:    8-12 files
Est. Tools:    60-90 total tool calls