Runaway Agent Cost Calculator
Estimate how fast autonomous agents can burn through API, model, and MCP tool budgets when loops, retries, or delegated sub-agents run without budget enforcement before the request goes through.
Estimated runaway exposure
A model, not a measurement. The minute count is a scenario input. It is not how long SatGate waits before it stops a call.
Scenario: if a cap stopped the loop at 5 minutes
Five minutes is an input in this model, not a product setting. If a budget was set so new calls stop after five minutes, each incident in this model falls from $3,240 to $360.
What drives runaway agent cost?
Agent count
More autonomous workers means more simultaneous paid decisions.
Call velocity
Retries and tool loops create cost at machine speed.
Tool pricing
MCP tools can hide search, data, cloud, or premium API costs.
Late detection
Dashboards report spend after the bill. Gateway policy checks deny over-budget requests before forwarding.
FAQ
Runaway agent cost questions
What is runaway agent spend?
Runaway agent spend is API, model, or tool cost created when autonomous agents loop, retry, delegate, or keep calling paid resources after the work is no longer economically justified.
Why can AI agent loops get expensive so quickly?
Agents can call tools at machine speed, fan out work to sub-agents, and retry failed steps without waiting for a human to approve each paid request.
How does SatGate reduce runaway agent costs?
SatGate enforces budgets on each request that goes through SatGate, plus scoped authority, per-tool spend caps, revocation, and route policy at the gateway before forwarding to upstream APIs or MCP tools, then records the decision in the signed receipt (Evidence Pack).
What inputs matter most for runaway agent cost?
The biggest cost drivers are active agent count, paid calls per minute, average cost per API or tool call, minutes before discovery, delegation fanout, and incident frequency.
How soon should runaway agent loops be blocked?
Runaway loops should be blocked at the first budget, per-tool cap, route policy, or revocation trigger. Waiting for dashboards or monthly invoices means the cost has already been created.
Stop runaway spend before the request goes through
SatGate puts permission before the agent acts for agent/API spend: control budgets before paid calls execute, revoke unsafe authority, and keep signed receipts for budget spends and for refusals over a budget, a missing payment or a tool permission.