Fair point. We only have clear evidence they're being more transparent about credit pricing and value, but it's unclear whether that'll make people burn through usage faster or slower.

The fuzziness is intentional. It gives them wiggle room and obscures how much "value" you actually get from $200, a 5-hour block, or a week. That keeps the tension manageable between subscription pricing and pay-per-token API pricing, especially for larger businesses on enterprise plans who want transparent $-per-MTok rates.

If they were fully transparent, like "your $200 sub gets you up to $2,000 of equivalent API usage," it would be a constant fight. People would track pennies and scream any time 5-hour blocks got throttled during peak hours. Businesses would push harder for pay-per-token discounts seeing that juicy $200 sub value.

I have no idea what I'm getting for $20/mo, either. (But I do know that it's at least $180 less than what I could be spending, I suppose.)