Default engine: where most delivered work comes from
The default engine is whatever a product generates with when nobody chooses. A tier selector is touched once and then forgotten, so a change to the default reaches more delivered work than a change to anything else on the menu, which is why it is kept apart from the menu here. As of 2026-09-22.
| A selected tier | The default |
|---|---|
| Chosen deliberately, by fewer projects | Used by every project nobody configured |
| A change is a curiosity | A change is a continuity event |
| Usually named, where tiers are named | Named by two entries in this register |
| Auditable if a version is given | Auditable only if it is named at all |
Inclusion rule. Distinctions drawn from the priced pages in this register. A default is recorded when a page states one, or when a single-model menu makes the answer follow. Order. The selected case first, then the default.
1A default has to be named to be worth anything
A product that lists every tier but not the starting one has published a menu without publishing the thing most of its output came from. Two entries here name it; the rest leave it unstated.
Naming it is what makes a change checkable. A reader comparing two dated readings can see the starting engine move, and the change carries a date rather than being inferred from output.
2Programmable entries have no default and still have one
Where every request names a model, the platform chooses nothing, and almost every caller has a string written months ago that it still sends. That is a default in every practical sense and it belongs to the customer.
Which is better, because nothing changes underneath without an edit. It is also a liability nobody is reminded to audit.
3Free allowances concentrate on the default too
Where a product gives a first project some free generation, it is normally spent on the starting tier, so the default is also where the least deliberate work happens. That compounds the exposure.
This register records only what a page states about the default, not how much output it produces. The named default reading sets out what naming buys and what it does not.
A definition rather than a dated entry: no line above is a vendor statement. Where this word turns up in a real notice, the wording and the date are on the default tier column. Nearby terms: Announced date, Blank cell, Earliest possible date.