The Molten Stack
Insights on AI billing, pricing strategies, and building AI-powered products. From the team at Lava.
Lava vs Viktor: Connectors vs Interface Control
Viktor has 3,200+ prebuilt connectors. Lava operates the interface directly. An honest comparison of where each approach wins, including what interface control costs you.
Mitchell Jones
A Tour of Every Model in Lava
Every model in the Lava picker, what each one is best at, and how we think about choosing: daily drivers, deep thinkers, specialists, and budget picks.
Kyle McVeighAll Posts
29 posts6 AI Agent Workspaces Compared (August 2026)
Compare Lava, Viktor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Lindy, and Gas Town as AI agent workspaces. Where each lives, how tools connect, and which job each is built for.
Mitchell Jones
Why Everyone Who Is Serious About AI Is Working In a Terminal
The most capable AI for real work lives in a terminal built for engineers. Why Claude Code took over, why that is a failure mode, and how Lava closes the gap.
Mitchell Jones
Stop Searching for Link Prospects. Let an Agent Do It.
Most link building starts with a manual search. An AI agent using DataForSEO, Serper, and Gmail turns hours of prospecting into a ready outreach list.
The Lava TeamForward Deployed Engineers Are a Symptom, Not a Solution
Needing a forward deployed engineer to make AI work is not a feature. It is an admission the product was built for a demo, not for real work.
Mitchell Jones
3 Bets Every AI Startup Is Getting Wrong in 2026
Most AI startups are making three identical mistakes: SaaS-era pricing, model-plus-software lock-in, and betting on model permanence. Here is the fix.
Mitchell JonesWhat Your AI Needs to Run a Daily Market Brief
How AI builds a daily market brief: the four providers behind the Morning Brief workflow and why each one handles a different part of the problem.
The Lava Team
What Happens to Your Team When Claude Goes Down
When Claude goes down, single-model teams stop. Why multi-model routing is about continuity first, cost second, and why the numbers make it obvious.
Mitchell Jones
MCP Server vs. Full Workspace: The Real Difference
An MCP server gives your AI model access to a tool. A workspace is where the work actually happens. Here is the real difference and why it matters for teams.
Mitchell JonesIntroducing Lava Desktop: API Access and DOM Control in One AI Agent
Lava Desktop combines API access to 400+ providers with DOM control of real app UIs. No engineering needed. Works across Gmail, Slack, Salesforce, and more.
Mitchell Jones
What Is a Gateway? How AI Agents Reach the World
AI agents call services directly through APIs and MCP, not dashboards built for humans. A gateway is the single connection that makes all of it possible.
Mitchell JonesHow to Set Up Billing for Your AI App: A Step-by-Step Guide
A practical 5-step guide to adding billing to your AI product. Covers pricing models, metering, payment collection, spending controls, and usage dashboards.
Mitchell JonesWhat Is an AI Gateway? A Guide for Developers
An AI gateway is a proxy between your app and AI providers like OpenAI and Anthropic. Learn why you need one, how they work, and what to look for.
Mitchell Jones
The Best AI Tools to Use with Lava Spend Keys (February 2026)
A practical guide to the best AI coding assistants, chat interfaces, agent frameworks, and automation tools you can use with a single Lava spend key.
Mitchell JonesPricing AI Agents: 5 Models for Charging for Autonomous AI
AI agents are unpredictable by nature. Compare per-task, per-action, outcome-based, time-based, and credit-based pricing to find the right fit.
Mitchell Jones
The 5 Best AI Gateways (February 2026)
Compare Lava, Portkey, LiteLLM, Helicone, and OpenRouter. A practical breakdown of features, pricing, and which AI gateway fits your stack.
Mitchell JonesThe 5 Best AI Billing Platforms (February 2026)
Compare Lava, Stripe, Orb, Metronome, Autumn, and Flowglad for AI billing. Real-time enforcement, pricing, and which platform fits your needs.
Mitchell JonesHow to Bill Your Users for AI: A Guide for Platform Builders
You pay per-token to AI providers and need to pass those costs to your users. Here is what it takes to build platform billing for AI.
Mitchell JonesThe 5 Best AI Cost Tracking Tools (February 2026)
Compare Lava, Helicone, LangSmith, Portkey, and Keywords AI for tracking LLM costs. Features, pricing, and which tool fits your workflow.
Mitchell JonesOutcome-Based Pricing for AI: When It Works and When It Doesn't
Outcome-based pricing sounds perfect in theory. Here is an honest look at when it works, when it falls apart, and what to do instead.
Mitchell Jones
The 5 Best AI Spend Management Tools (February 2026)
Compare Lava, Helicone, Vantage, Portkey, and CloudZero for managing AI spend. Budget controls, alerts, and which tool prevents cost overruns.
Mitchell JonesCredit-Based Pricing for AI Products: A Practical Guide
Prepaid credits are becoming the default pricing model for AI products. How they work, who uses them, and how to implement them right.
Mitchell JonesUsage-Based Billing for AI: What You Actually Need to Build
A practical guide to the four systems behind usage-based billing for AI products: metering, rating, collection, and visibility.
Mitchell JonesThe Hidden Costs of Running AI in Production
LLM API calls are just the tip of the iceberg. A practical breakdown of the real costs behind AI products, from token waste to billing infrastructure.
Mitchell JonesAI Pricing Models: Which One Fits Your Startup?
Compare subscription, usage-based, outcome-based, and hybrid pricing models to find the right fit for your AI product.
Mitchell JonesThe Startup Founder's Guide to Smarter Pricing
Practical pricing principles for AI and SaaS founders, from value-based pricing to tier design and iterative experimentation.
Mitchell JonesChoosing the Right LLM: A Guide to GPT, Claude, Gemini, and More
A practical breakdown of GPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and Mistral to help you pick the best large language model for your use case.
Mitchell JonesStay in the loop
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