Comparison
ccusage vs SessionWatcher — price & features
How ccusage and SessionWatcher compare as AI coding usage trackers — the honest facts, side by side.
| Attribute | ccusage | SessionWatcher | JP the Cat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free (open source) | $6.99+ one-time | $12.99 one-time (+$9.99/Mac) |
| Theme | n/a | dark | light |
| Open source | Yes | No | No |
| Form factor | CLI | menu bar | menu bar |
| Shows | real $ cost | quota % + cost | real $ (Claude) + official % / notional $ (Codex, Grok) |
| Providers | Claude Code (Codex via plugins) | ~6 providers | Claude Code + Codex + Grok + Muse Spark live, 59 more on roadmap |
ccusage
The dominant free CLI. Prices all cache-creation at the single 5-minute rate (issue #899), under-billing 1-hour cache writes by ~60%. Price: Free (open source). Shows: real $ cost.
SessionWatcher
The deepest paid rival; dark-themed, with a programmatic guides library for ~6 providers. Price: $6.99+ one-time. Shows: quota % + cost.
Common questions
- Is ccusage or SessionWatcher better?
- They serve different needs — ccusage shows real $ cost, SessionWatcher shows quota % + cost. The table lays out the facts so you can choose.
Track your real cost with JP the Cat
A live menu-bar total, priced to the cent from your local logs — official limits, honest notional labels.
Download MeowPrefer Homebrew? Install the same signed, notarized app from JP's public tap.
brew tap 8bittts/jpthecat
brew trust 8bittts/jpthecat
brew install --cask jpthecat