AI coding agents look cheap until they break.

then they get expensive fast.
→ agent gets confused mid-task, starts looping.
→ every loop burns tokens you're paying for.
→ you don't notice until the bill hits.
→ no dev instincts means no circuit breaker.
→ you can't tell when to stop and restart.
the cost isn't the tool. it's the confusion tax on top of it.
non-technical founders underestimate this more than almost anything else in the "just vibe code it" era.