Opportunities › AI-powered code generation for developers › Proposed app
Tierkeep
Route AI coding work to cheap or premium models under a hard monthly cap
- Score
- 59
- confidence 68
- Evidence
- 28
- items on the page
- Rivals
- 13
- named in sources
- First version
- 30 d
- estimate
- Type
- Desktop app
- PWA: runs in the browser, installs on Mac and Windows
- Market since
- 2021
- Emerging market · AI estimate
ScreensConcept
Desktop app: Developers configure task tiers, set cost caps, review spend dashboards, and manage API keys—technical setup and monitoring work that requires keyboard interaction and detailed screens. Sample screens on a computer, in the proposed brand. Their numbers are sample data.
This month
47% of cap used$14.20
About this appAI proposal
Tierkeep is a gateway and dashboard for developers who pay for AI coding by usage. You add your own API keys, set a monthly cap, and choose which model handles which kind of task. Routine edits go to a low-cost model; hard refactors go to a premium one. Your agent or editor points at one endpoint.
Before a big task runs, Tierkeep shows a cost estimate and the tier it will use. When a provider is down or rate-limited, it falls back to the next model you approved. When the cap is near, it warns you, then stops or downgrades, as you chose.
It does not replace your editor or agent. It works with tools that accept an OpenAI-style endpoint, and your keys stay with the providers you already use, so no single vendor account holds all your work.
- Tagline
- Use the right model for each job, and never pass your cap.
- Voice
- PlainSteadyFrugal
- Why this name
- Tier points to model tiers; keep points to keeping spend inside a limit. Two plain words in one, easy to say.
In the first version
Members say which features they would use. It tells PWAS what people want; it changes no score.
Task tiers
Map task types such as autocomplete, tests, refactors and planning to a primary model and fallbacks. Change the map in seconds.
No member yet
Hard monthly cap
Set a dollar limit per month, week or project. At the limit, Tierkeep stops or downgrades to a cheaper tier, as you decide.
No member yet
Cost estimate before you run
See a price range for a task before it starts, based on prompt size and the tier chosen. No surprise bills.
No member yet
Automatic fallback
If a provider errors or rate-limits, the request moves to your next approved model and the switch is logged.
No member yet
Brand identityAI proposal
Check the name against trademark registers before using it.
Palette
#1F6F5CPine · primary#F6F3ECOat · surface#1E2A28Ink · text#E0832BAmber · accent#3A5BA0Slate blue · data
Typography
Aa
Tierkeep
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ 0123456789
Use the right model for each job, and never pass your cap.
PricingAI proposal
Competitor pages in the material show Cursor at $20-40 a month and GitHub Copilot at $4-21. The material gives no price for Claude Code, so these tiers are a starting point to test, not a measured fit.
Free
Free
- One project
- Two tier rules
- Monthly cap and alerts
- 7-day spend history
Solo
$12 a month
- Unlimited projects
- Unlimited tier rules
- Fallback routing
- Pre-run cost estimates
- Push alerts
Team
$24 a month
- Everything in Solo
- Shared caps per developer
- Per-project reports
What it could be worthEstimate
What a software business making this much sells for today, from real deals. Pick a monthly revenue.
If it makes
Worth about
$190,000
Sale range $132,000 to $263,000
$120,000 a year in revenue
From 87 software businesses listed and sold on Empire Flippers in the last year, revenue vetted by the broker: they sell for about 19× their monthly revenue, most between 13× and 26×.
Measured on profit, the middle deal is 32× monthly net profit: about 2.7 years of profit.
What products in this market make
- OpenCodePublic claim$2,083,333 a month, worth about $39,600,000 at that multiple · letsdatascience.com
An estimate, not an offer or financial advice. A real price depends on profit, growth, churn, how much of the work is the owner's, and the buyer.
How it would growAI proposal
How the product would reach new customers through its own use, and how the first ones would be found. A plan to test, not a result.
- Built-in loop
- No loop in the product. Tierkeep sits in a developer's private workflow and produces nothing others see. Growth comes from content, open-source agent communities and word of mouth, not from its own use.
- Do they become customers?
- Reach is through direct sales and content. Test whether solo developers will pay $12 a month on top of provider bills, and whether team caps move small teams to Team.
- First customers
- Solo developers and small teams of 2-10 who already use an open-source coding agent with several paid model APIs and watch their monthly bill.
- Where to reach them
- Hacker News and Reddit: Post a plain write-up of real tiering savings and a free tier; join threads on coding-assistant costs.
- Open-source agent communities: Publish setup guides for pointing popular agents at Tierkeep in Discord and GitHub discussions.
- Developer newsletters: Offer a cost-calculator page and sponsor one or two newsletters about AI coding tools.
- First milestone
- Twenty free users connect real keys and run for 30 days, and at least five convert to Solo at $12 a month.
Why people already pay for this
- VerifiedHacker News post received 10 points and 6 comments
- Public claimDevelopers are concerned about the costs and availability of premium AI code assistants, and face risks of account restrictions.
- Public claimDevelopers actively seek cheaper alternatives to Claude Code that maintain quality.
- Public claimMultiple AI code assistant products exist and are being evaluated by developers, indicating an active market.
- Public claim
Tech stack
Every proposal builds on the same PWA base, installable from the browser on any phone or computer. Dashed boxes are what this app adds.
- AppNext.js and TypeScript
- PWAManifest and service worker
- UITailwind CSS
- Data and authSupabase Postgres
- PaymentsStripe
- EmailResend
- HostingVercel
- This app · Streaming proxyEdge or serverless streaming functionsRequests must pass through with low delay and support streamed replies from many providers.
- This app · Secret storageEncrypted key vault with per-user keysUsers store provider API keys, which must be encrypted and never shown back.
RisksAI inference
- CommercialAgents like OpenCode may add their own routing and caps, which would remove the reason to add a separate gateway. Demand for one is unproven.
- PlatformProvider terms may limit proxying or reselling access. Bring-your-own-key lowers this, but each provider's terms need checking.
- TechnicalAdding a hop adds delay and a failure point. If Tierkeep goes down, a developer's coding stops, so reliability must beat the savings.
- DataPrompts contain private source code. Developers may refuse a third party in the path unless logging is minimal and clearly stated.
- TechnicalPre-run cost estimates are rough because output length is unknown. Wrong estimates would damage trust in the main promise.
Everything marked AI proposal or AI inference was written by a model from the evidence on the opportunity page. The proposed name must be checked against trademark registers before it is used.