AI API Pricing 2026
Per-token pricing for every major AI API — Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Mistral. Enter your usage to calculate real monthly costs.
💰 Monthly Cost Calculator
Prompt caching not applied — can reduce input costs up to 90% for repeated system prompts.
| Model | Provider | Tier | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Cached / 1M | Context | Est. Monthly Cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
DeepSeek V4 Flash One of the cheapest frontier-class APIs available. Strong on coding benchmarks. | DeepSeek | ⚡ Fast | $0.14 /1M | $0.28 /1M | — | 128K | $8 /month | Budget coding tasks, high-volume text generation |
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite Cheapest model in Google lineup. Flat pricing on all context lengths. | Google (Gemini API) | ⚡ Fast | $0.1 /1M | $0.4 /1M | — | 1M | $9 /month | Ultra-high-volume simple tasks, classification |
GPT-4o mini Still one of the best price-performance options for simple tasks. | OpenAI | ⚡ Fast | $0.15 /1M | $0.6 /1M | — | 128K | $14 /month | Fast, cheap tasks — chat, simple QA, extraction |
Mistral Small 4 Strong price-performance for EU-based applications. | Mistral AI | ⚡ Fast | $0.2 /1M | $0.6 /1M | — | 128K | $15 /month | EU deployments, budget general tasks |
Grok 3 Mini Unusually favorable output-to-input price ratio. | xAI (Grok API) | ⚡ Fast | $0.3 /1M | $0.5 /1M | — | 128K | $17 /month | Cost-effective tasks where X platform context is useful |
Codestral Purpose-built coding model. Very competitive pricing vs OpenAI/Anthropic for cod… | Mistral AI | 💻 Coding | $0.3 /1M | $0.9 /1M | — | 256K | $23 /month | Code completion, FIM (fill-in-the-middle), coding-specific tasks |
GPT-5.4 Nano Cheapest OpenAI model for production. Good for simple extraction and routing. | OpenAI | ⚡ Fast | $0.2 /1M | $1.25 /1M | — | 128K | $25 /month | Ultra-high-volume simple tasks, classification, routing |
Gemini 2.5 Flash Best price-performance in current Gemini lineup. Free tier available. | Google (Gemini API) | ⚡ Fast | $0.3 /1M | $2.5 /1M | — | 1M | $47 /month | High-volume general tasks, summarization, extraction |
o3-mini Reasoning tokens billed as output. Budget reasoning model. | OpenAI | 🧠 Reasoning | $1.1 /1M | $4.4 /1M | — | 200K | $99 /month | Math, science, coding problems requiring deep reasoning |
DeepSeek V4 Pro Promotional pricing: $0.435/$0.87 (promo). Standard: $1.74/$3.48. | DeepSeek | ⚖️ Balanced | $1.74 /1M | $3.48 /1M | — | 128K | $104 /month | Complex reasoning and coding at lower cost than OpenAI/Anthropic |
Claude Haiku 4.5 Cheapest current-gen Claude. Replaces deprecated Haiku 3 ($0.25/$1.25). | Anthropic | ⚡ Fast | $1 /1M | $5 /1M | $0.1 cached | 200K | $105 /month | Classification, routing, extraction, summarization, high-volume workloads |
Mistral Large 3 Flagship Mistral model. Good alternative to GPT-4o for EU deployments. | Mistral AI | 🔥 Powerful | $2 /1M | $6 /1M | — | 128K | $150 /month | Complex reasoning, EU compliance-sensitive tasks |
Gemini 3.5 Flash Launched May 19, 2026. Undercuts Gemini 3.1 Pro by ~25% on price with better ben… | Google (Gemini API) | ⚖️ Balanced | $1.5 /1M | $9 /1M | — | 1M | $180 /month | Coding, agentic tasks — beats 3.1 Pro on benchmarks at lower cost |
Gemini 2.5 Pro Best value for complex tasks in Gemini lineup. 2x surcharge beyond 200K. | Google (Gemini API) | ⚖️ Balanced | $1.25 /1M | $10 /1M | — | 1M | $188 /month | Complex reasoning, coding, long-document analysis |
Gemini 3.1 Pro 2x surcharge beyond 200K tokens. Being superseded by 3.5 Flash on cost/performan… | Google (Gemini API) | 🔥 Powerful | $2 /1M | $12 /1M | — | 1M | $240 /month | High-quality generation, complex analysis |
GPT-5.4 Strong balance of capability and cost for most production workloads. | OpenAI | ⚖️ Balanced | $2.5 /1M | $15 /1M | — | 128K | $300 /month | General purpose coding, analysis, content generation |
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Best price-to-quality ratio for most production workloads. 1M context at flat ra… | Anthropic | ⚖️ Balanced | $3 /1M | $15 /1M | $0.3 cached | 1M | $315 /month | General coding, analysis, writing, RAG pipelines, agentic tasks |
Grok 3 Positioned against Claude Sonnet and GPT-4o. Strong X/Twitter integration. | xAI (Grok API) | ⚖️ Balanced | $3 /1M | $15 /1M | — | 128K | $315 /month | Real-time web data, X platform context, general reasoning |
Claude Opus 4.8 Current flagship (released May 28, 2026). Fast Mode: $10/$50 per MTok. Significa… | Anthropic | 🔥 Powerful | $5 /1M | $25 /1M | $0.5 cached | 1M | $525 /month | Complex reasoning, agentic workflows, code review, long-context analysis |
GPT-5.5 Flagship model. 1M context. Prompt caching 90% off. | OpenAI | 🔥 Powerful | $5 /1M | $30 /1M | $0.5 cached | 1M | $600 /month | Complex reasoning, multi-step workflows, top-quality generation |
Provider notes & discounts
Anthropic
Official pricing ↗Output tokens cost 5x input across all current models. Batch API: 50% discount. Prompt caching: 90% discount on cached input. 1M token context available on Opus 4.6/4.7/4.8 and Sonnet 4.6 at standard pricing.
OpenAI
Official pricing ↗Batch API: 50% discount. Prompt caching: 90% off on GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.4 families. Priority tier: 2x cost for faster processing. Reasoning tokens billed as output on o-series models.
Google (Gemini API)
Official pricing ↗Free tier: up to 1,000 daily requests on Flash models. Batch API: 50% discount. Context caching: 90% off. Long-context surcharge: 2x input beyond 200K on Pro models. Flash models: flat pricing regardless of context length.
xAI (Grok API)
Official pricing ↗New users receive $25 in free credits. Additional $150/month available via data sharing program. Deep X/Twitter platform integration.
DeepSeek
Official pricing ↗Significantly cheaper than OpenAI/Anthropic for coding tasks. Privacy considerations: Chinese company. Web chat is free.
Mistral AI
Official pricing ↗EU-based provider, strong GDPR compliance. Open-source models available. Good for EU privacy-conscious deployments.
API vs subscription: which is cheaper for you?
At ~2,000–2,200 interactions/month, Claude Sonnet API and Claude Pro subscription cost roughly the same. Below that, API wins. Above it, the flat $20/month Pro subscription is cheaper. Read our full breakdown:
API vs Subscription: When does pay-per-token save money? →All prices in USD per 1 million tokens (MTok). Verify current rates at each provider's official pricing page before use in production. Cost calculator uses standard pricing; batch and caching discounts apply separately. Actual costs may vary based on model routing, context length, and feature usage.