Platforms Monetize Third‑Party Agents

Platform AI providers are beginning to charge extra when users route work through independent agent frameworks, separating subscription access to their native harnesses from pay‑as‑you‑go use of third‑party agents. This reflects a technical and commercial boundary: in‑house harnesses can use cache and efficiency optimizations, while open agents often bypass those savings and therefore get reclassified as billable overages. — If adopted widely, this choice will reshape the economics and openness of the agent ecosystem, shifting power to platform owners and raising costs for small builders and automation use cases.