Apple made a move to attract newer developers by lowering the barriers to AI infrastructure costs during its developer keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday. The company announced that developers with fewer than 2 million first-time App Store downloads can use its Foundation Models running in Private Cloud Compute without any cloud API charges. "It’s access to frontier-tier level intelligence with unparalleled privacy protections, because getting started exploring ideas shouldn’t be held back by infrastructure costs," the presenter remarked.

The "under 2 million" threshold is another tactic to capture the indie developer audience, mirroring Apple’s Small Business Program, which offers reduced commission rates to smaller developers just starting out and not yet earning millions. Apple also noted that the Foundation Models framework will expand this year to include image input and support for server models. This means the API can now integrate with whatever cloud model provider developers choose, ensuring that getting started with a large cloud model is "as accessible as possible," especially for more complex tasks, Apple stated.

This step reflects a growing reality in the AI industry: experimentation is no longer cheap. By waiving infrastructure fees for smaller developers, Apple is positioning its models as a lower-cost alternative for those who want to avoid additional cloud bills. Small developers aren’t the only ones tightening their budgets. Tech giants like Meta and Amazon have discontinued their internal AI token usage leaderboards, where developers once competed to burn cash by experimenting with AI tools. Meanwhile, Uber recently revealed that it had exhausted its 2026 AI budget in just four months—a development some see as a call for greater fiscal responsibility in AI spending.