Topic
Options compared with stated methodology, real prices, and a decision rule.
The codex-security CLI is open source and gated to approved customers. Here is what a one-to-five person team can install this afternoon instead, with the free-tier limits and per-contributor costs that decide it.
Both platforms now bill a percentage for processing outside their in-house rail. Published rates side by side, the formula the fee is charged on, worked arithmetic at $20,000 a month, and the exempt-provider list that makes BigCommerce behave differently.
Credit cards only, never debit, capped at your own processing rate and never above 4%, with 30 days' notice and three separate disclosures. The rules, the states with restrictions, and the arithmetic showing a compliant surcharge recovers about 94% of your fees.
Merchants of record charge 5% plus 50 cents; a DIY Stripe and Stripe Tax stack runs about 3.4%. The worked math on what that 1.6-point spread buys, and who should pay it.
Open-weight models served over API now cost 10-50x less than frontier flagships. The price map from providers' own pages, a worked monthly bill with a 100x spread, and a three-tier routing rule.
Patreon cut 93 jobs while taking 10% of creator income. A fee comparison across Patreon, Substack and Ghost, and the question that matters more: who owns your subscriber billing?
A card payment link is convenient at $300 and expensive at $5,000 - percentage fees don't care that your work scaled. The per-rail math, and when to offer a bank transfer instead.
Freelancers argue billing models like religions. The practical answer is a two-question matrix - how definable is the scope, how long is the engagement - plus a buffer rule for every fixed quote.
On a $1,000 invoice, the route your money takes can cost you $6 or $90. Published fees compared from the providers' own pricing pages, with a worked example and a decision rule.