Compare AI models by what they actually cost
Prices checked 13 Nov 2026 · 62 models · 9 providers
Cheapest in each tier
Tiers group models by capability, not price.
Budget
High volume, simple tasksMid-tier
Everyday workFlagship
Hardest problemsIn / out price per 1 million tokens. Tiers are our grouping by capability and price; one model per provider, ranked by a 3:1 input-to-output blend. Legacy models and models closed to new users are left out.
Latest price changes
- Gemini 4 HydrogenIn$1.50Out$7.50Google launches Gemini 4 Hydrogen GA at $1.50/$7.50 (1M context; cached input $0.075), also on its free tierGemini pricingLaunch
- Muse EmberIn$0.10Out$0.50Meta now offers Muse Ember, its budget model on the Meta Model API, at $0.10/$0.50 for requests up to 200K input tokens and $0.30/$1.50 above (1M context)Llama pricingLaunch
- Gemini 4 CarbonIn$2.00Out$10.00Google launches Gemini 4 Carbon GA, its most capable reasoning model, at an introductory $2/$10 (1M context) through Nov 30, 2026, with the $4/$20 list price from Dec 1, 2026Gemini pricingLaunch
- Claude Fable 5.2In$8.00Out$40.00Anthropic launches Claude Fable 5.2 at $8/$40 (1M context), below Fable 5.1's $10/$50, with cache reads at $0.20/MTok and fast mode at $16/$80. Fable 5.1 moves to legacyClaude pricingLaunch
- GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI now says GPT-5.6 Sol's promotional pricing is available until Nov 30, 2026, having said earlier that it runs at least through Nov 21OpenAI pricingTier change
Subscriptions and plans
The vendor sets local prices. Where we haven’t seen a vendor’s price in your currency, it stays in US dollars.
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Yes, completely free. No sign-up, no email capture, no credit card. All tools — the cost calculator, comparison table, charts, and pricing history — are available immediately without an account.
What is a token in AI pricing?
A token is the unit AI models use to process text — roughly 4 characters, or about three-quarters of an English word. APIs bill per token, so a 1,000-word prompt is around 1,300 input tokens. Every price on this site is quoted per million tokens (MTok).
What is the absolute cheapest AI API right now?
By input cost, Meta Llama 3.1 8B at ~$0.02/MTok input and ~$0.04/MTok output is the cheapest, with Llama 4 Scout next at $0.10 — though both are offered through third-party hosts, so pricing varies by provider. The cheapest we track from a major first-party API is Google Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.10/MTok input and $0.40/MTok output ($0.05/$0.20 with batch processing), but since 18 September 2026 Google has limited it to developers who have used it before. For a new project, the cheapest current-generation first-party options we track are tied: OpenAI's GPT-6 Luna ($0.10/$0.50, or $0.05/$0.25 with batch processing) and Anthropic's Claude Haiku 5.5 ($0.10/$0.50, or $0.05/$0.25 with batch), with Meta's Muse Ember ($0.10/$0.50) at the same list price. Haiku 5.5's rate covers prompts up to 100,000 tokens only, rising to $0.50/$2.50 above that, while Luna keeps its rate up to 272K tokens and then rises to $0.20/$0.75, so Luna is the cheaper of the two for long prompts. Muse Ember keeps its rate up to 200K input tokens and then bills $0.30/$1.50.
How often are prices updated?
We update pricing data monthly and whenever a provider announces a price change. Exchange rates for currency conversion are updated daily. Every provider page links to the official pricing docs so you can verify the source.
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