Drafts are written by a language model — a program that understands text and can write it. draften calls it over the internet at a provider (Anthropic by default; OpenAI or a model on your own server work too), and every use is paid for. Here is roughly what it costs and how you keep it under control.
Three tasks, three models
The assistant does not use the same model for everything. A cheaper one does the simple work; the strong one only writes:
| Task | What it does | Default model |
|---|---|---|
| Triage | decides which new mail is the assistant's | Claude Haiku 4.5 (cheap) |
| Drafting | writes the draft, reading the knowledge sources | Claude Sonnet 5 (strong) |
| Learning | evaluates your edits and proposes lessons | Claude Haiku 4.5 (cheap) |
Which model and key the assistant uses is in Settings → Models and keys. You usually need not change them.
What it costs
Prices are in US dollars, as the model provider charges them; draften does not convert them. Roughly, as measured on real mail:
| What | Per item | Typical month |
|---|---|---|
| triage of new mail | about 0.005 USD per check | under 1 USD |
| a draft (Sonnet 5) | 0.05–0.20 USD | 10–20 USD at 3–5 drafts a day |
| a draft (Opus 5) | 0.12–0.27 USD | 20–25 USD |
Long threads and drafts for which the assistant reads a lot in the sources cost more. The new-assistant wizard is a one-off cost — before every paid step it shows an estimate, usually a few dollars.
Where you see the spend
- Overview, the What the models cost card — what writing, triage and learning cost over the chosen period, today's spend and the daily cap.
- Mail and Drafts — the cost of every message and draft.
- Settings → Activity — mail checks and requests with their outcome.
Daily cap
In Settings → Behaviour and limits you set a daily cost cap. Once the assistant reaches it, it writes no more drafts that day, evaluates nothing and starts no paid wizard step or trial; work under way finishes. In the morning (by the organisation's time zone) the count starts over. Mail arriving meanwhile gets the limit status.
The cap is a good safeguard in case an unexpected flood of mail arrives.
Who pays
The model provider is paid through an API key — the organisation's, the mailbox's, or the draften operator's default key. Who manages the keys is described in the administrators' page Model API keys.