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 request-path budget enforcement.
Estimated runaway exposure
If enforcement stops the loop at 5 minutes
A request-path economic firewall can block new calls once a budget, per-tool cap, route policy, or revocation rule is hit. In this model, stopping the loop at five minutes reduces each incident 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. Enforcement blocks before execution.
Stop runaway spend in the request path
SatGate observes agent/API spend, controls budgets before paid calls execute, and can charge robot customers with L402 when APIs become agent-native products.