Cheapest AI Models
Last updated: 34m ago
Every AI model ranked by API cost. Find free models, ultra-budget options under $0.50/1M tokens, and the best quality-per-dollar picks across 468+ models.
44
Free
$0/1M tokens
92
Ultra Budget
Under $0.50/1M
153
Budget
$0.50 – $3/1M
122
Standard
$3 – $15/1M
56
Premium
$15+/1M
Best Value - Highest Score per Dollar
Free
$0/1M tokens - 44 models| Model | Score | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Space Bunny Alphastealth | - | Free | Free |
| Ling 3.0 Flash Sante (free)inclusionai | 40 | Free | Free |
| Ling 3.0 Flash Fin (free)inclusionai | 40 | Free | Free |
| Qwen3.8 27B (free)Alibaba | 73 | Free | Free |
| Dots3-Note Preview (free)dots-studio | 40 | Free | Free |
| LFM2.5-2.6B (free)Liquid AI | 40 | Free | Free |
| Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)NVIDIA | 40 | Free | Free |
| Inkling Small (free)thinkingmachines | 69 | Free | Free |
| Laguna S 2.1 (free)poolside | - | Free | Free |
| Inkling (free)thinkingmachines | 73 | Free | Free |
| Laguna XS 2.1 (free)poolside | - | Free | Free |
| North Mini Code (free)Cohere | - | Free | Free |
| Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free)NVIDIA | - | Free | Free |
| Nemotron 3 Ultra (free)NVIDIA | - | Free | Free |
| Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)NVIDIA | - | Free | Free |
| Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)Google | 73 | Free | Free |
| Gemma 4 31B (free)Google | 81 | Free | Free |
| Lyria 3 Pro PreviewGoogle | - | Free | Free |
| Lyria 3 Clip PreviewGoogle | - | Free | Free |
| Nemotron 3 Super (free)NVIDIA | - | Free | Free |
| Midjourney v6.1Midjourney | - | Free | Free |
| Adobe Firefly 3Adobe | - | Free | Free |
| Leonardo PhoenixLeonardo AI | - | Free | Free |
| SoraOpenAI | - | Free | Free |
| Runway Gen-3 AlphaRunway | - | Free | Free |
+19 more models in this tier. View all pricing →
Ultra Budget
Under $0.50/1M - 92 models| Model | Score | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mistral NemoMistral AI | - | $0.019 | $0.030 |
| Ling 3.0 Flash VLinclusionai | 40 | $0.021 | $0.062 |
| Ling 3.0 Flashinclusionai | 40 | $0.021 | $0.063 |
| Ministral 3 8B 2512 (batch)Mistral AI | - | $0.075 | $0.075 |
| Mistral Small 3Mistral AI | - | $0.050 | $0.080 |
| Llama 3.1 8B InstructMeta | 45 | $0.050 | $0.080 |
| gpt-oss-20bOpenAI | 58 | $0.018 | $0.090 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423DeepSeek | - | $0.047 | $0.094 |
| Reka Edgerekaai | - | $0.100 | $0.100 |
| Ministral 3 3B 2512Mistral AI | - | $0.100 | $0.100 |
| Gemma 3 4BGoogle | - | $0.050 | $0.100 |
| Granite 4.0 MicroIBM | - | $0.017 | $0.112 |
| gpt-oss-20b (batch)OpenAI | 58 | $0.024 | $0.112 |
| Laguna XS 2.1poolside | - | $0.060 | $0.120 |
| Qwen3.7 FlashAlibaba | 40 | $0.030 | $0.130 |
| gpt-oss-120b (batch)OpenAI | 62 | $0.030 | $0.136 |
| Phi 4Microsoft | 60 | $0.070 | $0.140 |
| Nova Micro 1.0Amazon | - | $0.035 | $0.140 |
| Schematron V2 Turboinference-net | 40 | $0.030 | $0.150 |
| Mercury 2.5Inception | 61 | $0.040 | $0.150 |
| Qwen3.5-9BAlibaba | 67 | $0.100 | $0.150 |
| Ministral 3 8B 2512Mistral AI | - | $0.150 | $0.150 |
| Gemma 3 12BGoogle | - | $0.050 | $0.150 |
| Command R7B (12-2024)Cohere | - | $0.037 | $0.150 |
| Hy-MT2-1.8BTencent | 40 | $0.044 | $0.177 |
+67 more models in this tier. View all pricing →
Budget
$0.50 – $3/1M - 153 models| Model | Score | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Luna ProOpenAI | 40 | $0.100 | $0.500 |
| GPT-6 LunaOpenAI | 40 | $0.100 | $0.500 |
| Ternary Bonsai 2 27Bprism-ml | 40 | $0.075 | $0.500 |
| GPT Luna Latest~openai | 40 | $0.100 | $0.500 |
| GLM Flash Latest~z-ai | 40 | $0.040 | $0.500 |
| GLM 5.3 FlashZhipu AI | 78 | $0.040 | $0.500 |
| Qwen3 30B A3BAlibaba | 64 | $0.120 | $0.500 |
| Hy3Tencent | 75 | $0.132 | $0.528 |
| Mistral Small 3.1 24BMistral AI | - | $0.351 | $0.555 |
| Hunyuan A13B InstructTencent | - | $0.140 | $0.570 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna Pro (batch)OpenAI | 89 | $0.100 | $0.600 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna (batch)OpenAI | 89 | $0.100 | $0.600 |
| Hy3 previewTencent | 68 | $0.180 | $0.600 |
| Mistral Small 4Mistral AI | - | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| Solar Pro 3Upstage | - | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| Qwen3 VL 30B A3B InstructAlibaba | - | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| gpt-oss-120bOpenAI | 62 | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| SabaMistral AI | - | $0.200 | $0.600 |
| Command R (08-2024)Cohere | 49 | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| GPT-4o-miniOpenAI | 69 | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| GPT-4o-mini (2024-07-18)OpenAI | 57 | $0.150 | $0.600 |
| WizardLM-2 8x22BMicrosoft | - | $0.620 | $0.620 |
| GPT-5.4 Nano (batch)OpenAI | 79 | $0.100 | $0.625 |
| Gemma 2 27BGoogle | 77 | $0.650 | $0.650 |
| Llama 4 MaverickMeta | 71 | $0.188 | $0.652 |
+128 more models in this tier. View all pricing →
Standard
$3 – $15/1M - 122 models| Model | Score | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Qwen3.8 27BAlibaba | 74 | $0.420 | $3.00 |
| Seed-2.0-CodeByteDance | 40 | $0.500 | $3.00 |
| Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image)Google | - | $0.500 | $3.00 |
| Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3.1 Flash Image Preview)Google | - | $0.500 | $3.00 |
| Gemini 3 Flash PreviewGoogle | 88 | $0.500 | $3.00 |
| GLM 5.1Zhipu AI | 78 | $0.965 | $3.03 |
| Qwen3.6 27BAlibaba | - | $0.320 | $3.20 |
| Nova Pro 1.0Amazon | - | $0.800 | $3.20 |
| Qwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba | - | $0.650 | $3.25 |
| Kimi K2.7 CodeMoonshot AI | - | $0.656 | $3.30 |
| Qwen3.5 397B A17BAlibaba | 79 | $0.550 | $3.50 |
| Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle | 81 | $0.750 | $3.75 |
| Gemini 3.7 FlashGoogle | 40 | $0.750 | $3.75 |
| Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | - | $0.750 | $3.75 |
| Mistral Medium 3.5 (batch)Mistral AI | - | $0.750 | $3.75 |
| Gemini Flash Latest~google | - | $0.750 | $3.75 |
| Qwen3 Max ThinkingAlibaba | 68 | $0.780 | $3.90 |
| Qwen3 MaxAlibaba | 67 | $0.780 | $3.90 |
| Sakana Namazusakana | 40 | $0.950 | $4.00 |
| Kimi K2.6Moonshot AI | 76 | $0.950 | $4.00 |
| GLM 5V TurboZhipu AI | 72 | $1.20 | $4.00 |
| GLM 5 TurboZhipu AI | 78 | $1.20 | $4.00 |
| Qwen3 VL 235B A22B ThinkingAlibaba | 69 | $0.400 | $4.00 |
| o3 (batch)OpenAI | 87 | $1.00 | $4.00 |
| GPT-4.1 (batch)OpenAI | 68 | $1.00 | $4.00 |
+97 more models in this tier. View all pricing →
Premium
$15+/1M - 56 models| Model | Score | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ember-1fireworks | 40 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Kimi K3Moonshot AI | - | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| GPT-5.5 (batch)OpenAI | 93 | $2.50 | $15.00 |
| GPT-5.4 Image 2OpenAI | - | $8.00 | $15.00 |
| GPT-5.4OpenAI | 92 | $2.50 | $15.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6Anthropic | 85 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Sonar Pro SearchPerplexity | - | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic | 82 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4Anthropic | 74 | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| Sonar ProPerplexity | - | $3.00 | $15.00 |
| GPT-4o (2024-05-13)OpenAI | 71 | $5.00 | $15.00 |
| GPT-4 Turbo (batch)OpenAI | 62 | $5.00 | $15.00 |
| Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic | 95 | $4.00 | $20.00 |
| Claude Opus Latest~anthropic | - | $4.00 | $20.00 |
| GPT-6 Astra (batch)OpenAI | 82 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| GPT-6 Astra Pro (batch)OpenAI | 82 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 (batch)Anthropic | 96 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 5Anthropic | 95 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Fable 5 (batch)Anthropic | 96 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.8Anthropic | 95 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.7Anthropic | 95 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.6Anthropic | 90 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.5Anthropic | 85 | $5.00 | $25.00 |
| Fugu Ultra v2sakana | 40 | $5.00 | $30.00 |
| Fugu Ultrasakana | - | $5.00 | $30.00 |
+31 more models in this tier. View all pricing →
Frequently Asked Questions
AI models charge per token - the basic unit of text. A token is roughly 4 characters or 0.75 words. Pricing is typically listed per million tokens for both input (your prompt) and output (the model response).
Several models are completely free including some from Google, Meta, and others. For paid models, pricing starts as low as $0.01 per million tokens. Check our cheapest models page for the full ranking.
Use our token counter to measure your typical prompt and response sizes, then multiply by the model's per-token price. Our cost calculator can automate this based on your expected monthly usage.
It depends on your usage volume. For light use (under ~100 messages/day), subscriptions are usually cheaper. For heavy or programmatic use, API access is typically more cost-effective. Use our subscription calculator to compare.