If you're paying for model calls, retrieval, or other backend work on each request, charging earlier is a lot easier to justify because usage can literally cost

If you're paying for model calls, retrieval, or other backend work on each request, charging earlier is a lot easier to justify because usage can literally cost you money while you're still figuring things out. But I agree that it's feels like a mistake to charge before the value is obvious enough for someone to understand what they're paying for. Especially products with low marginal cost.