What does TheTop do?
TheTop is an AI cost and governance layer for companies: TheEngine sits in front of your model providers to show AI spend, enforce AI policy, catch sensitive data and route and cache requests. Transparency costs $150–$500/mo by AI spend, with a 14-day trial. It suits enterprises with large AI bills; skip it if your AI spend is small.
- AI spend visibility. Dashboards for AI usage, cost, performance and savings across the company, including seat activity and spend by department.
- Policy enforcement. Upload your AI policy (or use TheTop's) and it is applied before eligible requests reach a provider, with violations flagged and a kill switch.
- Sensitive data detection. Scans requests in stream before they reach the model; TheTop says it keeps a count and fingerprint rather than the text.
- Model routing. Uses memory and request context to pick a model or path, aiming to cut unnecessary model cost.
- Caching and memory. Reuses repeated context and prior work instead of reprocessing it, and keeps organizational context to inform routing.
- Savings measurement. Prices each request at actual cost and at a baseline cost, so savings are measured per request.
- One-line integration. Point your base_url at TheEngine's endpoint; the homepage says there's nothing to rewrite and supported providers are confirmed at activation.
- Single-tenant deployment. A dedicated deployment per customer, with every admin access recorded; TheTop says admins see counters and classes, not conversations.
Who is TheTop for?
TheTop is a good fit if you're a team lead, and you need help building and running AI apps or automating busywork.
How much does TheTop cost?
TheTop starts at $150/mo. It has no free plan. Its pricing page lists a free trial. We checked this on Nov 5, 2026 on the official pricing page.
- Starts at
- $150/mo
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- 14 days on every offering
Transparency (spend visibility) runs $150 to $500 a month by AI spend. Governance is $0.50 per million tokens checked, falling to $0.15, capped at 10% of AI spend. Optimization is 7% of routed AI spend, falling to 1.5%, capped at measured savings. Prices exclude tax. Checked Nov 5, 2026.
TheTop plans compared
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed yearly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Transparency | $150–$500/mo | Not listed | Price set by AI spend on connected keys over the trailing 30 days; every call on connected keys, up to 5 logins, read-only, self-serve onboarding |
| Governance | $0.50 per million tokens | Not listed | Per million tokens checked on the first billion a month, falling to $0.15 above 200 billion; never more than 10% of AI spend; policy enforcement and kill switch |
| Optimization | 7% of routed AI spend | Not listed | 7% on the first $50K a month, 5% to $100K, 2.5% to $500K, 2.25% to $2M, 1.5% above; fee capped at measured savings; memory, caching and routing |
| Complete Package | Custom | Custom | Governance + Optimization at 15% off, includes Transparency, one invoice; annual agreements with dedicated onboarding available |
Checked on Nov 5, 2026 with a US-based fetch. Prices are in USD, exclude taxes and are billed monthly by default; every offering has a 14-day free trial. Transparency's spend bands between $150 and $500 aren't listed, and Governance's rates between $0.50 and $0.15 aren't either. Optimization brackets are marginal: at $200,000 a month of routed spend the fee is 7% of $50,000 + 5% of $50,000 + 2.5% of $100,000 = $8,500, which matches the example on the page. TheTop says the Optimization fee never exceeds what it measurably saved. More than 5 logins needs sales. The homepage described access as 'November early access' when we checked.
Checked Nov 5, 2026 on TheTop's pricing page. Prices change often, so confirm before you buy.
TheTop pros and cons
What stands out
- 14-day free trial on every offering
- Optimization fee capped at measured savings, per TheTop
- Read-only start with no traffic migration
- Governance fee capped at 10% of AI spend
- Marginal price brackets published on the pricing page
- Dedicated deployment per customer
Watch out for
- Built for enterprise AI budgets, not small teams
- Spend bands inside the $150–$500 range aren't listed
- Supported model providers aren't listed publicly
- No security certifications named on the homepage
- Was in early access when checked
- Only 5 logins before you need sales
Based on TheTop's own pages, not hands-on testing.
What are the alternatives to TheTop?
We list 4 other AI Dev & Infrastructure tools: Netlify, Nixtla, Pinecone, Runpod. Each one below shows its starting price and when you might pick it instead.
Compared in
TheTop FAQ
How much does TheTop cost?
As of Nov 5, 2026: Transparency is $150–$500/mo depending on AI spend; Governance is $0.50 per million tokens checked, falling to $0.15; Optimization is 7% of routed AI spend, falling to 1.5%. The Complete Package bundles Governance and Optimization at 15% off.
Does TheTop have a free trial?
Yes. The pricing page lists a 14-day free trial on every offering.
What is TheEngine?
TheTop's layer that sits between your apps and AI providers. It routes requests, caches repeated work, keeps memory of context, applies your AI policy and measures savings per request.
How does the Optimization fee work?
It is a share of routed AI spend in marginal brackets: 7% on the first $50K a month, 5% to $100K, 2.5% to $500K, 2.25% to $2M and 1.5% above. At $200K a month that is $8,500. TheTop says the fee never exceeds measured savings.
How do I connect TheTop?
The homepage shows a single change: set your base_url to TheEngine's endpoint. It recommends starting read-only, with no traffic migration, then moving eligible API traffic when you choose.
Does TheTop read our prompts?
TheTop says admins see counters and classes, not conversations, and that sensitive data detection keeps a count and fingerprint rather than the text. Confirm data handling in your contract.
Which AI providers does TheTop support?
The homepage doesn't list them; it says the current list is confirmed at activation and that TheEngine sits in front of the providers you already use.
Who is TheTop best for?
Companies with significant AI spend across teams or products that need cost visibility, policy enforcement and audit trails. Small teams with low AI bills likely won't need it.
Sources and how we checked
- Official pricing page, checked Nov 5, 2026
- Official website
- TheTop homepage: TheEngine features and rollout (read Nov 5, 2026), checked Nov 5, 2026