The cheapest LLM APIs
Every generally-available model, ranked by blended price per 1M tokens. Sortable and filterable — find the cheapest option that clears your quality bar.
The cheapest generally-available LLM API we track is Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta) at $0.022 per 1M tokens blended — $0.02 input / $0.03 output. Across the 75 priced GA chat models we track, blended cost ranges from $0.022 to $67.50 per 1M tokens.
Last verified: 15 Oct 2026 · sourced from official provider documentation
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75 models, cheapest first
Ranked by blended $/1M tokens. Click a header to re-sort, or filter by provider.
| Model ↕ | Status ↕ | Context ↕ | Input $/M ↕ | Output $/M ↕ | Blended $/M ↕ | Cutoff ↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 8B Instructopen Meta · text | GA | 128K | $0.02 | $0.03 | $0.022 | 2023-12 |
| Amazon Nova Micro Amazon · text | GA | 128K | $0.035 | $0.14 | $0.061 | 2024-10 |
| Command R7Bopen Cohere · text | GA | 128K | $0.037 | $0.15 | $0.066 | — |
| Ministral 3 3Bopen Mistral · text, vision | GA | — | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.1 | — |
| Amazon Nova Lite Amazon · text, image, video | GA | 300K | $0.06 | $0.24 | $0.105 | 2024-10 |
| Qwen-Flash Alibaba · text | GA | 1M | $0.05 | $0.4 | $0.138 | — |
| Llama 4 Scout (17B-16E Instruct)open Meta · text, image | GA | 10M | $0.1 | $0.3 | $0.15 | 2024-08 |
| Ministral 3 8Bopen Mistral · text, vision | GA | 256K | $0.15 | $0.15 | $0.15 | — |
| Llama 3.3 70B Instructopen Meta · text | GA | 128K | $0.1 | $0.32 | $0.155 | 2023-12 |
| Qwen3.5-Flash Alibaba · text, image | GA | 1M | $0.1 | $0.4 | $0.175 | — |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $0.1 | $0.5 | $0.2 | 2026-06 |
| GPT-6 Luna OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $0.1 | $0.5 | $0.2 | 2026-05-18 |
| Ministral 3 14Bopen Mistral · text, vision | GA | — | $0.2 | $0.2 | $0.2 | — |
| Llama 4 Maverick (17B-128E Instruct)open Meta · text, image | GA | 1M | $0.15 | $0.6 | $0.262 | 2024-08 |
| Mistral Small 4open Mistral · text, vision | GA | 256K | $0.15 | $0.6 | $0.262 | — |
| Command R (08-2024)open Cohere · text | GA | 128K | $0.15 | $0.6 | $0.262 | — |
| GPT-5.6 Luna OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $0.2 | $1.20 | $0.45 | 2026-02-16 |
| Codestral (v25.08)open Mistral · text, code | GA | 128K | $0.3 | $0.9 | $0.45 | — |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-Flashopen DeepSeek · text, image | GA | 1M | $0.3 | $1.20 | $0.525 | — |
| Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite Google · text, image, video, audio, pdf | GA | 1.0M | $0.25 | $1.50 | $0.563 | 2025-01 |
| Qwen3.6-Flash Alibaba · text, image, video | GA | 1M | $0.25 | $1.50 | $0.563 | — |
| Qwen-Plus (Qwen3-series) Alibaba · text | GA | 1M | $0.4 | $1.20 | $0.6 | — |
| Qwen3.7-Plus Alibaba · text, image, video | GA | 1M | $0.4 | $1.60 | $0.7 | — |
| Qwen3.7-Plus (snapshot 2026-05-26) Alibaba · text, image, video | GA | 1M | $0.4 | $1.60 | $0.7 | — |
| Mistral Large 3open Mistral · text, vision | GA | 256K | $0.5 | $1.50 | $0.75 | — |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite Google · text, image, video, audio, pdf | GA | 1.0M | $0.3 | $2.50 | $0.85 | — |
| Amazon Nova 2 Lite Amazon · text, image, video | GA | 1M | $0.3 | $2.50 | $0.85 | 2025-10 |
| Qwen3.5-Plus Alibaba · text, image | GA | 262K | $0.4 | $2.40 | $0.9 | — |
| Qwen3.6-Plus Alibaba · text, image, video | GA | 1M | $0.5 | $3 | $1.13 | — |
| Grok Build 0.1 xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 256K | $1 | $2 | $1.25 | — |
| Amazon Nova Pro Amazon · text, image, video | GA | 300K | $0.8 | $3.20 | $1.40 | 2024-10 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash Google · text, image, video, audio, pdf | GA | 1.0M | $0.75 | $3.75 | $1.50 | — |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash Google · text, image, video, audio, pdf | GA | 1.0M | $0.75 | $3.75 | $1.50 | — |
| Grok 4.3 xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 1M | $1.25 | $2.50 | $1.56 | — |
| Grok 4.20 (0309) Reasoning xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 1M | $1.25 | $2.50 | $1.56 | — |
| Grok 4.20 (0309) Non-Reasoning xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 1M | $1.25 | $2.50 | $1.56 | — |
| GPT-5.4 mini OpenAI · text, image | GA | 400K | $0.75 | $4.50 | $1.69 | 2025-08-31 |
| Gemini 3.8 Live Google · text, audio, video, image, audio-out | GA | 131K | $0.75 | $4.50 | $1.69 | — |
| Gemini 3.8 Live Extended Thinking Google · text, audio, video, image, audio-out | GA | 131K | $0.75 | $4.50 | $1.69 | — |
| Kimi K2.7 Codeopen Moonshot · text | GA | 262K | $0.95 | $4 | $1.71 | — |
| Kimi K2.6open Moonshot · text, image, video | GA | 262K | $0.95 | $4 | $1.71 | — |
| DeepSeek-V4-Proopen DeepSeek · text | GA | 1M | $1.32 | $3.96 | $1.98 | — |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 200K | $1 | $5 | $2 | 2025-02 |
| Qwen3-Max Alibaba · text | GA | 262K | $1.20 | $6 | $2.40 | 2025-06 |
| Qwen-Max (Qwen2.5-Max) Alibaba · text | GA | 33K | $1.60 | $6.40 | $2.80 | — |
| Grok 4.7 xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 500K | $2 | $6 | $3 | 2026-05-01 |
| Grok 4.6 xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 500K | $2 | $6 | $3 | 2026-02-01 |
| Grok 4.5 xAI · text-in, image-in, text-out | GA | 500K | $2 | $6 | $3 | — |
| Mistral Medium 3.5 Mistral · text, vision | GA | — | $1.50 | $7.50 | $3 | — |
| Kimi K2.7 Code HighSpeedopen Moonshot · text | GA | 262K | $1.90 | $8 | $3.42 | — |
| Qwen3.7-Max Alibaba · text, image, video | GA | 1M | $2.50 | $7.50 | $3.75 | — |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $2 | $10 | $4 | 2026-06 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $2 | $10 | $4 | 2026-01 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $2 | $10 | $4 | 2026-04-30 |
| GPT-6 Sol OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $2 | $10 | $4 | 2026-04-20 |
| Gemini 4 Argon Google · text, image, video, audio, pdf | GA | 1.0M | $2 | $10 | $4 | — |
| Command R+ (08-2024)open Cohere · text | GA | 128K | $2.50 | $10 | $4.38 | — |
| GPT-5.6 Terra OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $2 | $12 | $4.50 | 2026-02-16 |
| GPT-5.4 OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $2.50 | $15 | $5.63 | 2025-08-31 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $3 | $15 | $6 | 2025-08 |
| Kimi K3 Moonshot · text, image | GA | 1.0M | $3 | $15 | $6 | — |
| Claude Opus 5.5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $4 | $20 | $8 | 2026-06 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $4 | $20 | $8 | 2026-02-16 |
| Claude Opus 5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $5 | $25 | $10 | 2026-05 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $5 | $25 | $10 | 2026-01 |
| Claude Opus 4.7 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $5 | $25 | $10 | 2026-01 |
| Claude Opus 4.6 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $5 | $25 | $10 | 2025-05 |
| Claude Opus 4.5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 200K | $5 | $25 | $10 | 2025-05 |
| GPT-5.5 OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $5 | $30 | $11.25 | 2025-12-01 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $10 | $50 | $20 | 2026-06 |
| Claude Fable 5 Anthropic · text, image, vision | GA | 1M | $10 | $50 | $20 | — |
| GPT-6 Astra OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $10 | $50 | $20 | 2026-04-30 |
| GPT-5.6 Cyber OpenAI · text, image | GA | 400K | $12.50 | $75 | $28.13 | 2026-02-16 |
| GPT-5.5 Pro OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $30 | $180 | $67.50 | 2025-12-01 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro OpenAI · text, image | GA | 1.1M | $30 | $180 | $67.50 | 2025-08-31 |
Blended = 0.75 × input + 0.25 × output $/M tokens (a fair single-number cost proxy). Click any header to sort.
Cheapest LLM APIs
What is the cheapest LLM API right now?
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct (Meta) is the cheapest generally-available LLM we track, at $0.02 per 1M input tokens and $0.03 per 1M output tokens — a blended $0.022 per 1M. The next cheapest is Amazon Nova Micro (Amazon) at a blended $0.061 per 1M. Prices are sourced from official provider documentation and refreshed daily.
How is the cheapest model ranked?
We rank every generally-available chat LLM by a blended price of 0.75 × input + 0.25 × output (USD per 1M tokens) — a single-number cost proxy that weights the input-heavy nature of most real workloads. Embeddings, rerank and media-generation models are excluded so the leaderboard is a like-for-like comparison. Click any column header to re-sort by input, output or context.
Is the cheapest LLM good enough for production?
Not always. Price is only one axis — quality, latency, rate limits and reliability matter just as much, and the cheapest model on paper can cost more once you account for retries or a larger prompt. Use this ranking to build a shortlist, then test the top few on your own workload before committing.
Do these prices include free tiers or discounts?
No. The blended figure is standard on-demand API pricing. Prompt caching, batch processing and provider free tiers can cut the real bill substantially — use the cost calculator to model your own token volumes and see how caching changes the ranking.
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