My personal best is $4K because of one unchecked option.
this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
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I was promised 15 years ago that cloud computing would avoid unexpected bills and provide consistent expenses that project managers love so much.
Oh, it's expected costs.
Like, figure out the compute requirements of your code, multiply by the cost per compute unit (or whatever): boom, your cost.
Totally predictable.
Compared to suddenly having to replace a $20k server that dies in your data center.
So much easier.
Except when your code (let's be honest, the most likely thing to have an error in it... At least compared to some 4+ year old production hardware that everyone runs) has a bug in it that requires 20x compute.
But maybe that is a popularity spike (the hug-of-death)! That's why you migrated to the #cloud anyway, right? To handle these spikes! And you've always paid your bills so... Yeh, here's a 20x bill.
This is how I feel about vibe coding
“Claude can you help me with this”
“Sure, taking a look”
you’ve exceeded your allotted token limit
Oops.
Experienced at running my own server: 50€/month power bill
It's okay I guess
Wow that's.... Pricey. What is your kWh cost?
~0.28€/kWh
So 50€/month assumes an average of 263W used 24/7, though considering I also have two switches and a workstation/backup server as well as the inefficiency of an UPS, that is realistic.
Yeah sounds about right. But we have really cheap power, something like 7 or 8 cents per kwh (US). Not sure why, lots of wind I guess.
The term you’re looking for is government-subsidized fossil fuels.
"Did you accidentally leave an unused function running? Too bad."