AI API Cost Comparison
Compare 12+ LLM prices side by side and find the cheapest model
Cheapest: Gemini 2.0 Flash at $1.80/month
Save $313.20/month vs Claude 3 Opus ($315.00/month)
Monthly Cost Comparison
| # | Model | Vendor | Tier | Input Cost | Output Cost | Daily Total | Monthly Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gemini 2.0 Flash★ | Fast | $0.0200 | $0.0400 | $0.0600 | $1.80 | |
| 2 | GPT-4o mini | OpenAI | Fast | $0.0300 | $0.0600 | $0.0900 | $2.70 |
| 3 | DeepSeek V3 | DeepSeek | Frontier | $0.0540 | $0.1100 | $0.1640 | $4.92 |
| 4 | Llama 3.1 70B | Meta/Together | Fast | $0.1180 | $0.0790 | $0.1970 | $5.91 |
| 5 | Claude 3.5 Haiku | Anthropic | Fast | $0.1600 | $0.4000 | $0.5600 | $16.80 |
| 6 | o1 mini | OpenAI | Reasoning | $0.2200 | $0.4400 | $0.6600 | $19.80 |
| 7 | Gemini 1.5 Pro | Frontier | $0.2500 | $0.5000 | $0.7500 | $22.50 | |
| 8 | GPT-4o | OpenAI | Frontier | $0.5000 | $1.0000 | $1.5000 | $45.00 |
| 9 | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Anthropic | Frontier | $0.6000 | $1.5000 | $2.1000 | $63.00 |
| 10 | GPT-4 Turbo | OpenAI | Frontier | $2.0000 | $3.0000 | $5.0000 | $150.00 |
| 11 | o1 | OpenAI | Reasoning | $3.0000 | $6.0000 | $9.0000 | $270.00 |
| 12 | Claude 3 Opus | Anthropic | Frontier | $3.0000 | $7.5000 | $10.5000 | $315.00 |
Cost per 1,000 Requests
Based on your current input/output token settings. Lower is better.
Quick Scenarios
Pricing based on published API rates as of July 2026. Does not include volume discounts, batch API pricing, or cached input pricing. Actual costs may vary based on tokenizer differences and API provider surcharges.
AI Model Pricing Comparison (July 2026)
The AI API landscape has evolved rapidly. With new models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and DeepSeek, choosing the right model for your budget is more important than ever. This comparison tool helps you make data-driven decisions by calculating real costs based on your actual usage patterns.
Key Findings
- 1.Gemini 2.0 Flash is the cheapest model with a 1M context window at $0.10/M input - ideal for large document processing.
- 2.GPT-4o mini offers 94% cost savings over GPT-4o for most chatbot workloads, with minimal quality loss for routine tasks.
- 3.DeepSeek V3 is 89% cheaper than GPT-4o and excels at Chinese language tasks, making it the best choice for Chinese-market applications.
- 4.Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs 20% less than GPT-4o for input but 50% more for output - choose based on your output-heavy vs input-heavy workload.
- 5.Reasoning models (o1) are 6x more expensive than standard models - reserve them for complex multi-step problems only.
Cost Optimization Strategies
Prompt Routing
Route simple queries to GPT-4o mini and complex ones to GPT-4o. This hybrid approach can cut costs by 70-80% while maintaining quality.
Response Caching
Cache identical API calls with a TTL of 1-24 hours. For chatbots, 20-40% of queries are repeated - caching eliminates these costs entirely.
Batch API
OpenAI and Anthropic offer 50% discounts for batch processing within 24 hours. Perfect for bulk content generation and data labeling.
Prompt Compression
Remove redundant instructions, use shorter system prompts, and truncate context windows. Every 1,000 tokens saved per request = $0.0025 saved per 1K requests on GPT-4o.
FAQ
Which AI model is the cheapest in 2026?
As of July 2026, Gemini 2.0 Flash is the cheapest frontier-level model at $0.10/M input and $0.40/M output tokens. For OpenAI, GPT-4o mini at $0.15/M input is the most affordable. DeepSeek V3 at $0.27/M input offers the best price-to-performance ratio for Chinese language tasks.
How much does it cost to run GPT-4o per month?
For a typical chatbot use case (1,000 input tokens, 500 output tokens, 1,000 requests/day), GPT-4o costs approximately $225/month. The same workload on GPT-4o mini costs only $13.50/month - a 94% savings. Use the calculator above to estimate your specific costs.
Is DeepSeek V3 cheaper than GPT-4o?
Yes, significantly. DeepSeek V3 costs $0.27/M input and $1.10/M output, compared to GPT-4o at $2.50/M input and $10/M output. This makes DeepSeek V3 approximately 89% cheaper than GPT-4o for the same workload. However, GPT-4o may perform better on complex reasoning tasks.
What is the difference between input and output token pricing?
Input tokens (prompt tokens) are the text you send to the API. Output tokens (completion tokens) are the text the model generates. Output tokens are always more expensive - typically 3-5x the input price - because generating text requires more computation than reading it.
How can I reduce my AI API costs?
Six strategies: (1) Use cheaper models like GPT-4o mini or Gemini Flash for routine tasks, (2) Cache responses to avoid duplicate API calls, (3) Compress prompts by removing unnecessary context, (4) Use batch API for non-real-time workloads (50% discount), (5) Implement prompt routing to send simple queries to cheaper models, (6) Monitor usage with tools like this cost calculator.