Definition
Token
A token is the small unit of text, a word, part of a word, or a character, that an AI language model reads and generates one piece at a time. Unlike a whole word, which is how people count text, a token is how the model counts it, and a single word can be one token or several. Argentix pays attention to tokens because they are the unit you are billed in and the unit that limits how much a model can read or write at once.1
Every AI provider prices by the token and caps each request by a token limit, so tokens are both your meter and your ceiling. A rough rule is that a token is about three-quarters of a word in English, which means a page of text runs a few hundred tokens. This matters when you feed a model long documents or run high volumes, because costs and limits are counted in tokens, not pages. For an SMB, understanding tokens is what turns a surprising AI bill into a predictable one you can budget and control.
Why it matters
The stakes
Tokens are how AI tools charge you and how they limit what you can send, so a plan that ignores them can produce a bill you did not expect. A long document or a chatty automation burns tokens fast, and costs scale with volume. Knowing the rough token cost of your workload lets you estimate spend up front and avoid unpleasant surprises.