LLM API pricing comparison: what typical tasks cost on 15 models

At the model providers' own API prices (prices checked ), 1,000 chat replies — from $0.25 (GPT-6 Luna) to $25.00 (Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra); summarizing 100 documents — from $0.06 (GPT-6 Luna) to $6.10 (Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra); a day of coding assistant use — from $0.20 (GPT-6 Luna) to $20.00 (Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra). Calculated from token counts we state below; model quality is not compared. Methodology · Source: our AI model API prices

We calculate each amount from the task's token count and the price per million tokens recorded on the date shown. It is an estimate for planning, not a bill: your own prompts, answers and discounts change it.

The three tasks and our assumptions

Task receipt: Direct API / OpenRouter: $0.348; Warm cache: $0.082; Published batch: $0.174 Same price on both channels Calculated · Document analysis Assumption: 3 steps; initial input 50,500 tokens; growth 2,500 tokens/step; visible output 1,000 tokens/step. Month: 14,600 tasks. No hidden reasoning or retries.
Task receipt.Same price on both channels Calculated · Document analysis Assumption: 3 steps; initial input 50,500 tokens; growth 2,500 tokens/step; visible output 1,000 tokens/step. Month: 14,600 tasks. No hidden reasoning or retries. Open image · Explore the chart · Measured Lab · CC BY 4.0
TaskRequestsInput tokens per requestOutput tokens per requestInput tokens in totalOutput tokens in total
1,000 chat replies1,0001,0003001,000,000 (≈ 750,000 words)300,000 (≈ 225,000 words)
Summarizing 100 documents1004,100400410,000 (≈ 307,500 words)40,000 (≈ 30,000 words)
A day of coding assistant use2006,0008001,200,000 (≈ 900,000 words)160,000 (≈ 120,000 words)
  • 1,000 chat replies. A chat assistant answers 1,000 messages. Each request sends about 1,000 tokens (instructions, the conversation so far and the new message) and gets a reply of about 300 tokens.
  • Summarizing 100 documents. 100 documents of about 4,000 tokens each (roughly 3,000 words, six pages) are summarized one by one: each request adds about 100 tokens of instructions and gets a summary of about 400 tokens.
  • A day of coding assistant use. One developer works with a coding assistant for a day: 200 requests, each sending about 6,000 tokens (the task, the relevant files and the previous steps) and getting about 800 tokens of code and explanation.
  • Words: we assume 0.75 English words per token (1,000 words ≈ 1,333 tokens). Each model counts tokens its own way, and other languages usually need more tokens per word.
  • Reasoning: some models bill their internal reasoning as output tokens; for example, Google's Gemini API price page, checked , says its output price includes thinking tokens. We count only the visible answer, so a model that reasons at length can cost more than shown.
  • No discounts: prompt caching, volume deals and promotional credits are not applied. Batch prices are in a separate table below. Prices are in USD as OpenRouter lists them; we do not add taxes.
  • Prices: the latest check of each price on its model page. A price not recorded at the latest check is “Unknown”; an older price is not reused.

1,000 chat replies

A chat assistant answers 1,000 messages. Each request sends about 1,000 tokens (instructions, the conversation so far and the new message) and gets a reply of about 300 tokens. 1,000,000 input and 300,000 output tokens in total. Calculated — sorted by the cost at the model provider's own price, lowest first; models without that price come last.

ModelAt the model provider's own priceThrough OpenRouterPrices used, per 1M tokens (input / output)
GPT-6 Luna
OpenAI
$0.25
OpenAI
$0.25OpenAI: $0.10 / $0.50
OpenRouter: $0.10 / $0.50
Qwen3.8 Flash
Qwen
$0.29
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen) (International)
$0.29Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen): $0.15 / $0.47
OpenRouter: $0.15 / $0.47
gpt-oss-120b
OpenAI
$0.33
Groq
$0.33
$0.03–$0.33 over 7 days
Groq: $0.15 / $0.60
OpenRouter: $0.15 / $0.60
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen
$3.80
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen) (International)
$3.80Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen): $2.00 / $6.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $6.00
Grok 4.7
xAI
$3.80
xAI
$3.80xAI: $2.00 / $6.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $6.00
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
$5.00
Anthropic
$5.00Anthropic: $2.00 / $10.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $10.00
GPT-6 Sol
OpenAI
$5.00
OpenAI
$5.00OpenAI: $2.00 / $10.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $10.00
Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic
$10.00
Anthropic
$10.00Anthropic: $4.00 / $20.00
OpenRouter: $4.00 / $20.00
Claude Fable 5.1
Anthropic
$25.00
Anthropic
$25.00Anthropic: $10.00 / $50.00
OpenRouter: $10.00 / $50.00
GPT-6 Astra
OpenAI
$25.00
OpenAI
$25.00OpenAI: $10.00 / $50.00
OpenRouter: $10.00 / $50.00
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 0910
DeepSeek
Unknown$0.22
$0.20–$0.22 over 7 days
the provider: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.051 / $0.567
Mistral Large 3 2512
Mistral
Unknown
Mistral AI
$0.95Mistral AI: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.50 / $1.50
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813
DeepSeek
Unknown
DeepSeek (peak rate)
$1.44
$1.32–$1.51 over 7 days
DeepSeek: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.111 / $4.44
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Google
Unknown
Google Gemini API
$2.06Google Gemini API: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.825 / $4.125
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Google
Unknown
Google Gemini API
$5.60Google Gemini API: Unknown
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $12.00

Summarizing 100 documents

100 documents of about 4,000 tokens each (roughly 3,000 words, six pages) are summarized one by one: each request adds about 100 tokens of instructions and gets a summary of about 400 tokens. 410,000 input and 40,000 output tokens in total. Calculated — sorted by the cost at the model provider's own price, lowest first; models without that price come last.

ModelAt the model provider's own priceThrough OpenRouterPrices used, per 1M tokens (input / output)
GPT-6 Luna
OpenAI
$0.06
OpenAI
$0.06OpenAI: $0.10 / $0.50
OpenRouter: $0.10 / $0.50
Qwen3.8 Flash
Qwen
$0.08
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen) (International)
$0.08Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen): $0.15 / $0.47
OpenRouter: $0.15 / $0.47
gpt-oss-120b
OpenAI
$0.09
Groq
$0.09
<$0.01–$0.09 over 7 days
Groq: $0.15 / $0.60
OpenRouter: $0.15 / $0.60
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen
$1.06
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen) (International)
$1.06Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen): $2.00 / $6.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $6.00
Grok 4.7
xAI
$1.06
xAI
$1.06xAI: $2.00 / $6.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $6.00
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
$1.22
Anthropic
$1.22Anthropic: $2.00 / $10.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $10.00
GPT-6 Sol
OpenAI
$1.22
OpenAI
$1.22OpenAI: $2.00 / $10.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $10.00
Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic
$2.44
Anthropic
$2.44Anthropic: $4.00 / $20.00
OpenRouter: $4.00 / $20.00
Claude Fable 5.1
Anthropic
$6.10
Anthropic
$6.10Anthropic: $10.00 / $50.00
OpenRouter: $10.00 / $50.00
GPT-6 Astra
OpenAI
$6.10
OpenAI
$6.10OpenAI: $10.00 / $50.00
OpenRouter: $10.00 / $50.00
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 0910
DeepSeek
Unknown$0.04
$0.04–$0.04 over 7 days
the provider: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.051 / $0.567
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813
DeepSeek
Unknown
DeepSeek (peak rate)
$0.22
$0.21–$0.23 over 7 days
DeepSeek: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.111 / $4.44
Mistral Large 3 2512
Mistral
Unknown
Mistral AI
$0.27Mistral AI: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.50 / $1.50
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Google
Unknown
Google Gemini API
$0.50Google Gemini API: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.825 / $4.125
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Google
Unknown
Google Gemini API
$1.30Google Gemini API: Unknown
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $12.00

A day of coding assistant use

One developer works with a coding assistant for a day: 200 requests, each sending about 6,000 tokens (the task, the relevant files and the previous steps) and getting about 800 tokens of code and explanation. 1,200,000 input and 160,000 output tokens in total. Calculated — sorted by the cost at the model provider's own price, lowest first; models without that price come last.

ModelAt the model provider's own priceThrough OpenRouterPrices used, per 1M tokens (input / output)
GPT-6 Luna
OpenAI
$0.20
OpenAI
$0.20OpenAI: $0.10 / $0.50
OpenRouter: $0.10 / $0.50
Qwen3.8 Flash
Qwen
$0.26
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen) (International)
$0.26Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen): $0.15 / $0.47
OpenRouter: $0.15 / $0.47
gpt-oss-120b
OpenAI
$0.28
Groq
$0.28
$0.02–$0.28 over 7 days
Groq: $0.15 / $0.60
OpenRouter: $0.15 / $0.60
Qwen3.8 Max (0902)
Qwen
$3.36
Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen) (International)
$3.36Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen): $2.00 / $6.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $6.00
Grok 4.7
xAI
$3.36
xAI
$3.36xAI: $2.00 / $6.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $6.00
Claude Sonnet 5.5
Anthropic
$4.00
Anthropic
$4.00Anthropic: $2.00 / $10.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $10.00
GPT-6 Sol
OpenAI
$4.00
OpenAI
$4.00OpenAI: $2.00 / $10.00
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $10.00
Claude Opus 5.5
Anthropic
$8.00
Anthropic
$8.00Anthropic: $4.00 / $20.00
OpenRouter: $4.00 / $20.00
Claude Fable 5.1
Anthropic
$20.00
Anthropic
$20.00Anthropic: $10.00 / $50.00
OpenRouter: $10.00 / $50.00
GPT-6 Astra
OpenAI
$20.00
OpenAI
$20.00OpenAI: $10.00 / $50.00
OpenRouter: $10.00 / $50.00
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 0910
DeepSeek
Unknown$0.15
$0.13–$0.15 over 7 days
the provider: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.051 / $0.567
Mistral Large 3 2512
Mistral
Unknown
Mistral AI
$0.84Mistral AI: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.50 / $1.50
DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813
DeepSeek
Unknown
DeepSeek (peak rate)
$0.84
$0.78–$0.89 over 7 days
DeepSeek: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.111 / $4.44
Gemini 3.8 Flash
Google
Unknown
Google Gemini API
$1.65Google Gemini API: Unknown
OpenRouter: $0.825 / $4.125
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Google
Unknown
Google Gemini API
$4.32Google Gemini API: Unknown
OpenRouter: $2.00 / $12.00

“At the model provider's own price” uses the price on the price page of the company named under the amount — usually the model's maker; for open-weight models, a hosting provider that publishes a price. “Through OpenRouter” uses OpenRouter's listed price, which follows the provider serving the model at the time; where it moved in the last 7 days, the range of the task cost is shown under the amount.

Batch variants

OpenRouter lists a separate “batch” variant of some of these models at a different price. Batch requests are not answered right away, so they are not comparable with the live prices above.

Batch variantChat: 1,000 repliesSummaries: 100 documentsCoding: one working dayPrices used, per 1M tokens (input / output)
GPT-6 Astra (batch)$12.50$3.05$10.00$5.00 / $25.00
GPT-6 Sol (batch)$2.50$0.61$2.00$1.00 / $5.00
GPT-6 Luna (batch)$0.13$0.03$0.10$0.05 / $0.25
gpt-oss-120b (batch)$0.07$0.02$0.06$0.0296 / $0.136
Claude Fable 5.1 (batch)$12.50$3.05$10.00$5.00 / $25.00
Claude Opus 5.5 (batch)$5.00$1.22$4.00$2.00 / $10.00
Claude Sonnet 5.5 (batch)$2.50$0.61$2.00$1.00 / $5.00
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview (batch)$2.80$0.65$2.16$1.00 / $6.00
Gemini 3.8 Flash (batch)$0.94$0.23$0.75$0.375 / $1.875
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (batch)$0.07$0.01$0.05$0.011 / $0.20
Grok 4.7 (batch)$3.04$0.85$2.69$1.60 / $4.80
Mistral Large 3 2512 (batch) (last listed on OpenRouter 26 Oct 2026)$0.48$0.13$0.42$0.25 / $0.75

Free variants

22 models on OpenRouter list $0 per token on the latest check. We do not put them in the tables: a free variant can be slower, capped or withdrawn.

Cohere: North Mini Code (free) · Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free) · Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) · Google: Gemma 4 31B (free) · Google: Lyria 3 Clip Preview · Google: Lyria 3 Pro Preview · LiquidAI: LFM2.5-2.6B (free) · LiquidAI: LFM3-1.7B (free) · MiniMax: MiniMax M3.1 Flash (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 22 Oct 2026) · NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) · NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 27 Oct 2026) · NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Ultra (free) · NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 6 Nov 2026) · NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free) · NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (free) · Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 31 Oct 2026) · Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 31 Oct 2026) · Recursive: Flint (free) · Crouton Alpha · Thinking Machines: Inkling (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 4 Nov 2026) · Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free) (last listed on OpenRouter 4 Nov 2026) · XingChen: Xing4.0 29B A4B (free)

Price history of these models

Official prices are compared check by check; a change counts only when a check on a later day confirms it. A model page draws the price as a chart only when the official price has changed.

How much you can send: API rate limits

Cost is one limit; the other is how many requests and tokens a new account may send per minute and how much it may spend per month. The official tiers of the Claude API, the OpenAI API and the Gemini API, with their numbers and dates, are in API rate limits and spend caps by tier.

What this comparison does not show

Not building on an API? Ready-made AI tools for writing, speech and images charge per month or per credit instead of per token: AI tool prices and the usage each plan includes.

Download CSV (every amount with its prices)

Explore the numbers

Claude Sonnet 5.5

Same price on both channels

Direct API / OpenRouter$0.348Warm cache$0.082Published batch$0.174$0.00$0.10$0.20$0.30$0.40Direct API / OpenRouter$0.348Warm cache$0.082Published batch$0.174$0.00$0.10$0.20$0.30$0.40

Calculated · Document analysis

Assumption: 3 steps; initial input 50,500 tokens; growth 2,500 tokens/step; visible output 1,000 tokens/step. Month: 14,600 tasks. No hidden reasoning or retries.

Warm-cache saving: $0.266 per task. Dashed outline: the no-cache bill.

Assumption: first-step cache fraction 75%; earlier context is read again and new context is written. All calls stay within the cache lifetime.

Formula: sum of input, output, cache reads and cache writes × their published rates / 1M. Each step uses its own context tier. Missing cache or batch prices are Unknown.

Fresh input · Visible output · Cache read · Cache write

Claude Sonnet 5.5

5-minute cache: pays back from 2 uses.

1-hour cache: pays back from 3 uses.

USD · Calculated$0.00$5.00$10.00$15.00$20.00123510Uses of the same prefixUSD · Calculated$0.00$5.00$10.00$15.00$20.00123510Uses of the same prefix

Fresh input · 5-minute cache · 1-hour cache

UsesFresh input5-minute cache1-hour cache
1$2.00$2.50$4.00
2$4.00$2.60$4.10
3$6.00$2.70$4.20
5$10.00$2.90$4.40
10$20.00$3.40$4.90

Assumption: the same 1M-token prefix, reused within the selected lifetime. Output excluded. Cached = one write + (uses − one) reads; fresh = uses × input rate.

Sources: this page; published model prices (data (JSON)); task assumptions (data (JSON)). Published prices · Observed responses · Calculated scenarios · Assumptions stated with each chart.