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Cheapest LLM API: Lowest-Priced Models in the Top Half by Score

A cheap model is only a bargain if it is good enough. This page lists models that score in the top half on the Epoch Capabilities Index and orders them from the lowest list price to the highest, so you can see what a decent answer costs.

Data updated

Smarter and cheaper: where the value is

Each dot is a model. Higher means a higher Epoch index score, further left means cheaper. The line joins the best-value models: nothing cheaper scores as high.
Epoch index score against price per million tokensScatter chart of 87 models. Left to right is price, from $0.01 to $100 per million tokens, each step ten times more. Bottom to top is score. Best-value line, cheapest first: Qwen2.5-Coder ($0.04, score 113); Gemma 3 4B ($0.05, score 115.9); Qwen3-8B ($0.07, score 136.1); gpt-oss-20b ($0.10, score 137.7); Qwen3-14B ($0.12, score 138.2); GPT-5 nano ($0.14, score 139.2).100120140160180$0.01$0.10$1$10$100Claude Haiku 5.5: $0.20 per 1M tokens, score 159.3Claude Opus 5.5: $8 per 1M tokens, score 168.8Gemma 3 4B: $0.05 per 1M tokens, score 115.9, open weightsGPT-5 nano: $0.14 per 1M tokens, score 139.2GPT-6.1 Sol: $4 per 1M tokens, score 168.4gpt-oss-20b: $0.10 per 1M tokens, score 137.7, open weightsQwen2.5-Coder (7B): $0.04 per 1M tokens, score 113, open weightsQwen3-14B: $0.12 per 1M tokens, score 138.2, open weightsQwen3.5-9B: $0.17 per 1M tokens, score 139.3, open weightsQwen3-8B: $0.07 per 1M tokens, score 136.1, open weightsClaude Opus 5.5Claude Haiku 5.5Qwen3.5-9BQwen3-14BGemma 3 4B↖ Smarter and cheaperCapability scoreUS$ per 1M tokens (each step 10x)
Epoch index score against price per million tokensScatter chart of 87 models. Left to right is price, from $0.01 to $100 per million tokens, each step ten times more. Bottom to top is score. Best-value line, cheapest first: Qwen2.5-Coder ($0.04, score 113); Gemma 3 4B ($0.05, score 115.9); Qwen3-8B ($0.07, score 136.1); gpt-oss-20b ($0.10, score 137.7); Qwen3-14B ($0.12, score 138.2); GPT-5 nano ($0.14, score 139.2).100120140160180$0.01$0.10$1$10$100GPT-6 Astra: $20 per 1M tokens, score 168.8Claude Haiku 5.5: $0.20 per 1M tokens, score 159.3Claude Opus 5.5: $8 per 1M tokens, score 168.8Gemma 3 4B: $0.05 per 1M tokens, score 115.9, open weightsGPT-5 nano: $0.14 per 1M tokens, score 139.2GPT-6.1 Sol: $4 per 1M tokens, score 168.4gpt-oss-20b: $0.10 per 1M tokens, score 137.7, open weightsQwen2.5-Coder (7B): $0.04 per 1M tokens, score 113, open weightsQwen3-14B: $0.12 per 1M tokens, score 138.2, open weightsQwen3.5-9B: $0.17 per 1M tokens, score 139.3, open weightsQwen3-8B: $0.07 per 1M tokens, score 136.1, open weightsClaude Opus 5.5GPT-6 AstraClaude Haiku 5.5Qwen3.5-9BGPT-5 nanoQwen3-14BQwen3-8B↖ Smarter and cheaperCapability scorePrice per million tokens (US$). Each step right costs 10 times more
Epoch index score against price per million tokensScatter chart of 87 models. Left to right is price, from $0.01 to $100 per million tokens, each step ten times more. Bottom to top is score. Best-value line, cheapest first: Qwen2.5-Coder ($0.04, score 113); Gemma 3 4B ($0.05, score 115.9); Qwen3-8B ($0.07, score 136.1); gpt-oss-20b ($0.10, score 137.7); Qwen3-14B ($0.12, score 138.2); GPT-5 nano ($0.14, score 139.2).100120140160180$0.01$0.10$1$10$100Claude Fable 5: $20 per 1M tokens, score 163.4Claude Fable 5.1: $20 per 1M tokens, score 166.5Claude Opus 4.5: $10 per 1M tokens, score 150.1Claude Opus 4.6: $10 per 1M tokens, score 155.7Claude Opus 4.7: $10 per 1M tokens, score 156.8Claude Opus 4.8: $10 per 1M tokens, score 159Claude Opus 5: $10 per 1M tokens, score 163.9Claude Sonnet 4.5: $6 per 1M tokens, score 146.7Claude Sonnet 4.6: $6 per 1M tokens, score 152.8Claude Sonnet 5: $4 per 1M tokens, score 156.9Claude Sonnet 5.5: $4 per 1M tokens, score 166.2DeepSeek-V3.2: $0.31 per 1M tokens, score 146.1, open weightsDeepSeek V4.1 Flash: $0.52 per 1M tokens, score 155.9, open weightsDeepSeek-V4-Flash: $0.52 per 1M tokens, score 146.1, open weightsDeepSeek V4 Flash 0731: $0.24 per 1M tokens, score 154.8, open weightsDeepSeek-V4-Pro: $1.98 per 1M tokens, score 149.1, open weightsDeepSeek V4 Pro 0813: $1.98 per 1M tokens, score 155.6, open weightsGemini 3.1 Pro: $4.5 per 1M tokens, score 155.3Gemini 3.5 Flash: $3.38 per 1M tokens, score 154.9Gemini 3.6 Flash: $1.5 per 1M tokens, score 154.5Gemini 3.7 Flash: $1.5 per 1M tokens, score 158Gemini 3.8 Flash: $1.5 per 1M tokens, score 157.4Gemini 3 Flash: $1.13 per 1M tokens, score 151.9Gemini 3 Pro: $4.5 per 1M tokens, score 153.1Gemini 4 Argon: $4 per 1M tokens, score 166.5GLM-5: $1.55 per 1M tokens, score 145.8, open weightsGLM-5.1: $2.15 per 1M tokens, score 149.8, open weightsGLM-5.2: $2.15 per 1M tokens, score 151.9, open weightsGLM-5.3: $2.15 per 1M tokens, score 156, open weightsGLM-5.3-Flash: $0.24 per 1M tokens, score 153.1, open weightsGPT-5: $3.44 per 1M tokens, score 150GPT-5.1: $3.44 per 1M tokens, score 149.8GPT-5.2: $4.81 per 1M tokens, score 153.7GPT-5.2 Pro: $57.8 per 1M tokens, score 156.3GPT-5.3 Codex: $4.81 per 1M tokens, score 157.1GPT-5.4: $5.63 per 1M tokens, score 157.3GPT-5.4 Mini: $1.69 per 1M tokens, score 148.7GPT-5.4 Nano: $0.46 per 1M tokens, score 146GPT-5.4 Pro: $67.5 per 1M tokens, score 159.6GPT-5.5: $11.3 per 1M tokens, score 159.7GPT-5.5 Pro: $67.5 per 1M tokens, score 162.9GPT-5.6 Luna: $0.45 per 1M tokens, score 156.5GPT-5.6 Sol: $8 per 1M tokens, score 162.8GPT-5.6 Terra: $4.5 per 1M tokens, score 160.1GPT-5 Pro: $41.3 per 1M tokens, score 150.6GPT-6 Astra: $20 per 1M tokens, score 168.8GPT-6 Luna: $0.20 per 1M tokens, score 156.8GPT-6 Sol: $4 per 1M tokens, score 163.7Grok 4: $6 per 1M tokens, score 146.2Grok 4.20: $1.56 per 1M tokens, score 152.1Grok 4.5: $3 per 1M tokens, score 154.1Grok 4.6: $3 per 1M tokens, score 156.6Grok 4.7: $3 per 1M tokens, score 154.4Inkling: $1.76 per 1M tokens, score 148.4, open weightsInkling-Small: $0.66 per 1M tokens, score 150.3, open weightsKimi K2.5: $1.2 per 1M tokens, score 148.1, open weightsKimi K2.6: $1.71 per 1M tokens, score 150.9, open weightsKimi K2.7 Code: $1.71 per 1M tokens, score 150.1, open weightsKimi K2 Thinking: $1.08 per 1M tokens, score 145.8, open weightsKimi K3: $6 per 1M tokens, score 157.9, open weightsMiniMax-M2.5: $0.52 per 1M tokens, score 146.6, open weightsMiniMax-M3: $0.52 per 1M tokens, score 146.9, open weightsMistral Large 4: $1.03 per 1M tokens, score 150Muse Spark 1.1: $2 per 1M tokens, score 154.1Muse Spark 1.2: $2 per 1M tokens, score 155.1Muse Spark 1.3: $2 per 1M tokens, score 157.2Muse Spark Open: $2 per 1M tokens, score 155.1, open weightso3: $3.5 per 1M tokens, score 146.7o3-pro: $35 per 1M tokens, score 147.3Qwen 3.6 Max (Preview): $2.85 per 1M tokens, score 149.4Qwen 3.6 Plus: $1.13 per 1M tokens, score 147.3Qwen 3.8 27B: $1.09 per 1M tokens, score 151.7, open weightsQwen 3.8 Max: $3 per 1M tokens, score 157.4Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: $1.35 per 1M tokens, score 146.8, open weightsQwen3.6 27B: $1.08 per 1M tokens, score 146.2, open weightsQwen3.7-Max: $3.75 per 1M tokens, score 154Qwen3.7-Plus: $0.63 per 1M tokens, score 147Claude Haiku 5.5: $0.20 per 1M tokens, score 159.3Claude Opus 5.5: $8 per 1M tokens, score 168.8Gemma 3 4B: $0.05 per 1M tokens, score 115.9, open weightsGPT-5 nano: $0.14 per 1M tokens, score 139.2GPT-6.1 Sol: $4 per 1M tokens, score 168.4gpt-oss-20b: $0.10 per 1M tokens, score 137.7, open weightsQwen2.5-Coder (7B): $0.04 per 1M tokens, score 113, open weightsQwen3-14B: $0.12 per 1M tokens, score 138.2, open weightsQwen3.5-9B: $0.17 per 1M tokens, score 139.3, open weightsQwen3-8B: $0.07 per 1M tokens, score 136.1, open weightsClaude Opus 5.5GPT-6 AstraGPT-6.1 SolClaude Haiku 5.5Qwen3.5-9BGPT-5 nanoQwen3-14BQwen3-8BGemma 3 4B↖ Smarter and cheaperCapability scorePrice per million tokens (US$). Each step right costs 10 times more
  • Best-value line: nothing cheaper is as smart
  • Diamond = open weights
Prices are blended: three parts input to one part output. Diamonds are open-weights models.

Full ranking

Showing the top 100 of 119 models.Download the full table (CSV)Data credit: LiteLLM model price list, Epoch AI, used under open licences (details at the foot of the page).
Cheapest LLM API: Lowest-Priced Models in the Top Half by Score: 100 of 119 models
Rank and modelBlended price per million tokensPrice per 1M tokens (in / out)Cost of 100 chatsEpoch indexContext window
1gpt-oss-20bOpenAI · Open weights
$0.10$0.06 / $0.24$0.018137.7131K tokens
2Qwen3-14BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.12$0.08 / $0.24$0.02138.241K tokens
3GPT-5 nanoOpenAI
$0.14$0.05 / $0.40$0.025139.2272K tokens
4Qwen3.5-9BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.17$0.17 / $0.15$0.025139.3262K tokens
5Qwen3-32BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.17$0.10 / $0.38$0.029138.441K tokens
6Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic
$0.20$0.10 / $0.50$0.035159.31M tokens
6GPT-6 LunaOpenAI
$0.20$0.10 / $0.50$0.035156.8922K tokens
8Gemma 4 31B ITGoogle · Open weights
$0.21$0.14 / $0.40$0.034143.0262K tokens
9GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai · Open weights
$0.24$0.15 / $0.50$0.04153.11M tokens
10DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731DeepSeek · Open weights
$0.24$0.19 / $0.38$0.038154.81M tokens
11Gemma 4 26B A4BGoogle · Open weights
$0.26$0.15 / $0.60$0.045141.9Not measured
11gpt-oss-120bOpenAI · Open weights
$0.26$0.15 / $0.60$0.045139.8131K tokens
13QwQ-32BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.26$0.20 / $0.45$0.043137.5131K tokens
14DeepSeek-V3.2-ExpDeepSeek · Open weights
$0.30$0.27 / $0.41$0.048144.9164K tokens
15DeepSeek-V3.2DeepSeek · Open weights
$0.31$0.28 / $0.40$0.048146.1164K tokens
16Qwen3-235B-A22BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.37$0.21 / $0.84$0.063139.2262K tokens
17Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct (Jul 2025)Alibaba · Open weights
$0.39$0.22 / $0.88$0.066138.8262K tokens
18Qwen 3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.42$0.20 / $1.10$0.075143.7262K tokens
19Grok-3 minixAI
$0.43$0.28 / $0.89$0.072140.2131K tokens
20GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI
$0.45$0.20 / $1.20$0.08156.5922K tokens
21GPT-5.4 NanoOpenAI
$0.46$0.20 / $1.25$0.083146.0272K tokens
22Qwen3.5-35B-A3BAlibaba · Open weights
$0.50$0.25 / $1.25$0.087142.5262K tokens
23MiniMax-M2.7MiniMax · Open weights
$0.52$0.30 / $1.19$0.089145.8197K tokens
24DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek · Open weights
$0.52$0.30 / $1.20$0.09155.91M tokens
24DeepSeek-V4-FlashDeepSeek · Open weights
$0.52$0.30 / $1.20$0.09146.11M tokens
24MiniMax-M2.5MiniMax · Open weights
$0.52$0.30 / $1.20$0.09146.61M tokens
24MiniMax-M3MiniMax · Open weights
$0.52$0.30 / $1.20$0.09146.91M tokens
28Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle
$0.56$0.25 / $1.50$0.10144.31M tokens
29Qwen3.7-PlusAlibaba
$0.63$0.36 / $1.44$0.11147.01M tokens
30Inkling-SmallThinking Machines · Open weights
$0.66$0.47 / $1.20$0.11150.31M tokens
31GPT-5 miniOpenAI
$0.69$0.25 / $2.00$0.13145.3272K tokens
32DeepSeek-V3.1DeepSeek · Open weights
$0.84$0.56 / $1.68$0.14139.8131K tokens
33Gemini 2.5 Flash (Sep 2025)Google
$0.85$0.30 / $2.50$0.15142.91M tokens
33Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle
$0.85$0.30 / $2.50$0.15144.91M tokens
35Qwen3-30B-A3B-Thinking (Jul 2025)Alibaba · Open weights
$0.90$0.90 / $0.90$0.14139.6262K tokens
36Qwen3-235B-A22B-Thinking (Jul 2025)Alibaba · Open weights
$0.95$0.30 / $2.90$0.17143.8262K tokens
37DeepSeek-R1DeepSeek · Open weights
$0.96$0.55 / $2.19$0.16138.866K tokens
38Kimi K2 (Jul 2025)Moonshot AI · Open weights
$0.96$0.55 / $2.20$0.17140.0131K tokens
39GLM-4.7Z.ai · Open weights
$1.00$0.60 / $2.20$0.17143.6200K tokens
40Mistral Large 4Mistral AI
$1.03$0.68 / $2.09$0.17150.01M tokens
41Kimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AI · Open weights
$1.07$0.60 / $2.50$0.18145.8262K tokens
42Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba · Open weights
$1.08$0.37 / $3.20$0.20146.2262K tokens
43Qwen 3.8 27BAlibaba · Open weights
$1.09$0.45 / $3.00$0.20151.7262K tokens
44Gemini 3 FlashGoogle
$1.13$0.50 / $3.00$0.20151.91M tokens
44Qwen 3.6 PlusAlibaba
$1.13$0.50 / $3.00$0.20147.31M tokens
46DeepSeek-R1 (May 2025)DeepSeek · Open weights
$1.18$0.75 / $2.45$0.20141.1164K tokens
47Kimi K2.5Moonshot AI · Open weights
$1.20$0.60 / $3.00$0.21148.1262K tokens
48Qwen3.5 397B-A17BAlibaba · Open weights
$1.35$0.60 / $3.60$0.24146.8262K tokens
49Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle
$1.50$0.75 / $3.75$0.26154.51M tokens
49Gemini 3.7 FlashGoogle
$1.50$0.75 / $3.75$0.26158.01M tokens
49Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle
$1.50$0.75 / $3.75$0.26157.41M tokens
52GLM-5Z.ai · Open weights
$1.55$1.00 / $3.20$0.26145.8200K tokens
53Grok 4.20xAI
$1.56$1.25 / $2.50$0.25152.11M tokens
54GPT-5.4 MiniOpenAI
$1.69$0.75 / $4.50$0.30148.7272K tokens
55Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI · Open weights
$1.71$0.95 / $4.00$0.29150.9262K tokens
55Kimi K2.7 CodeMoonshot AI · Open weights
$1.71$0.95 / $4.00$0.29150.1262K tokens
57InklingThinking Machines · Open weights
$1.76$1.00 / $4.05$0.30148.41M tokens
58o3-miniOpenAI
$1.93$1.10 / $4.40$0.33140.2200K tokens
58o4-miniOpenAI
$1.93$1.10 / $4.40$0.33145.5200K tokens
60DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813DeepSeek · Open weights
$1.98$1.32 / $3.96$0.33155.61M tokens
60DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek · Open weights
$1.98$1.32 / $3.96$0.33149.11M tokens
62Claude Haiku 4.5Anthropic
$2.00$1.00 / $5.00$0.35142.2200K tokens
62Muse Spark 1.1Meta
$2.00$1.25 / $4.25$0.34154.11M tokens
62Muse Spark 1.2Meta
$2.00$1.25 / $4.25$0.34155.11M tokens
62Muse Spark 1.3Meta
$2.00$1.25 / $4.25$0.34157.21M tokens
62Muse Spark OpenMeta · Open weights
$2.00$1.25 / $4.25$0.34155.11M tokens
67GLM-5.1Z.ai · Open weights
$2.15$1.40 / $4.40$0.36149.8200K tokens
67GLM-5.2Z.ai · Open weights
$2.15$1.40 / $4.40$0.36151.91M tokens
67GLM-5.3Z.ai · Open weights
$2.15$1.40 / $4.40$0.36156.01M tokens
70Qwen 3.6 Max (Preview)Alibaba
$2.85$1.27 / $7.61$0.51149.4262K tokens
71Grok 4.5xAI
$3.00$2.00 / $6.00$0.50154.1500K tokens
71Grok 4.6xAI
$3.00$2.00 / $6.00$0.50156.6500K tokens
71Grok 4.7xAI
$3.00$2.00 / $6.00$0.50154.4500K tokens
71Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI · Open weights
$3.00$1.50 / $7.50$0.53141.4262K tokens
71Qwen 3.8 MaxAlibaba
$3.00$2.00 / $6.00$0.50157.4992K tokens
76Qwen3-MaxAlibaba
$3.05$1.66 / $7.22$0.53142.3262K tokens
77Gemini 3.5 FlashGoogle
$3.38$1.50 / $9.00$0.60154.91M tokens
78Gemini 2.5 Pro (Jun 2025)Google
$3.44$1.25 / $10.00$0.63145.11M tokens
78GPT-5OpenAI
$3.44$1.25 / $10.00$0.63150.0272K tokens
78GPT-5.1OpenAI
$3.44$1.25 / $10.00$0.63149.8272K tokens
81o3OpenAI
$3.50$2.00 / $8.00$0.60146.7200K tokens
82Qwen3.7-MaxAlibaba
$3.75$2.50 / $7.50$0.63154.0992K tokens
83Claude Sonnet 5Anthropic
$4.00$2.00 / $10.00$0.70156.91M tokens
83Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic
$4.00$2.00 / $10.00$0.70166.21M tokens
83Gemini 4 ArgonGoogle
$4.00$2.00 / $10.00$0.70166.41M tokens
83GPT-6 SolOpenAI
$4.00$2.00 / $10.00$0.70163.7922K tokens
83GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI
$4.00$2.00 / $10.00$0.70168.4922K tokens
88Gemini 3 ProGoogle
$4.50$2.00 / $12.00$0.80153.11M tokens
88Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle
$4.50$2.00 / $12.00$0.80155.31M tokens
88GPT-5.6 TerraOpenAI
$4.50$2.00 / $12.00$0.80160.1922K tokens
91GPT-5.2OpenAI
$4.81$1.75 / $14.00$0.88153.7272K tokens
91GPT-5.3 CodexOpenAI
$4.81$1.75 / $14.00$0.88157.1272K tokens
93GPT-5.4OpenAI
$5.63$2.50 / $15.00$1.00157.31.1M tokens
94Claude 3.7 SonnetAnthropic
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05141.0200K tokens
94Claude Sonnet 4Anthropic
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05141.6200K tokens
94Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05146.7200K tokens
94Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05152.81M tokens
94Grok 3xAI
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05138.2131K tokens
94Grok 4xAI
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05146.2262K tokens
94Kimi K3Moonshot AI · Open weights
$6.00$3.00 / $15.00$1.05157.91M tokens

How to read this leaderboard

Lower price is better. Blended price assumes three input tokens for every output token: (3 x input price + output price) / 4. It is a typical mix for chat and document work. Your own mix may differ. Cost of 100 chats assumes each chat sends 1,000 tokens (about 750 words) and gets 500 tokens (about 375 words) back. These are list prices from the model maker's own API. Free tiers, discounts, caching and subscription plans can change what you really pay.

Questions people ask

What is a token and what does a million tokens mean?

A token is a small piece of a word. A million tokens is roughly 750,000 words. Prices are quoted per million tokens, separately for what you send (input) and what the model writes back (output).

How is the blended price worked out?

We weight three input tokens to one output token: (3 x input price + output price) / 4. If your work is mostly long answers, output price matters more than this blend shows.

Why only the top half by score?

The cheapest models of all are often the weakest. Limiting the list to the top half on the Epoch Capabilities Index keeps it to models that are likely to handle everyday work.

Are these the prices I will pay?

They are list prices for the maker's own API. Apps, subscriptions, discounts, cached input and other hosts can change what you pay. Confirm on the maker's site before you commit.

Where does the data come from?

Prices and context windows come from the open-source LiteLLM price list (MIT licence), which records each model maker's own price page. Prices change often, so confirm on the maker's site before you buy. Scores come from Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0).

How often is this leaderboard updated?

We check our open data sources every day and show the date of the data at the top of the page. A model only moves when its source publishes new results, so a number can stay the same for weeks.

More leaderboards

Different questions need different tests. Pick the one that matches your work.

Where this data comes from

  • LiteLLM model price list: Prices and context windows: LiteLLM model price list (github.com/BerriAI/litellm, MIT licence). We use the model maker's own price entry when there is one. Prices change often, so always confirm on the maker's site before you buy.
  • Epoch AI: Benchmark data: Epoch AI, 'Capabilities & benchmarking', epoch.ai/benchmarks (CC BY 4.0). We match models across sources, rank them and show them in charts. Scores are not changed. Epoch AI does not endorse this site.

Newest data on this page: 26 Oct 2026. Prices are list prices and change often, so confirm on the maker's site before you buy. Sponsors never change a score or an order. How we calculate this · Report a mistake

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