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Cheapest AI API
Ranked by API input cost per 1M tokens. Budget options for production workloads.
1
DeepSeek is the cheapest production-grade AI API at $0.27 per 1M input tokens — open weights.
| # | Model | API in / 1M tokens | Standard plan | Context | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DeepSeek DeepSeek · DeepSeek V3 | $0.27 | API only | 128K | Compare → |
| 2 | Qwen Alibaba · Qwen 3 Max | $0.40 | Plus | 256K | Compare → |
| 3 | Meta AI Meta · Llama 4 Maverick | $0.50 | Free | 1M | Compare → |
| 4 | Le Chat Mistral · Mistral Large 2 | $2.00 | $14.99/mo | 128K | Compare → |
| 5 | Pi Inflection AI · Pi 3 | $2.50 | Free | 32K | Compare → |
| 6 | Claude Anthropic · Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $3.00 | $20/mo | 1M | Compare → |
| 7 | Perplexity Perplexity · Sonar Pro | $3.00 | $20/mo | 200K | Compare → |
| 8 | ChatGPT OpenAI · GPT-5.2 | $5.00 | $20/mo | 256K | Compare → |
| 9 | Grok xAI · Grok 4 | $5.00 | $30/mo | 256K | Compare → |
| 10 | Microsoft Copilot Microsoft · GPT-5.2 (M365-tuned) | $5.00 | $20/mo | 128K | Compare → |
| 11 | Gemini Google · Gemini 3 Pro | $7.00 | $20/mo | 2M | Compare → |
| 12 | Claude Opus Anthropic · Claude Opus 4.7 | $15.00 | $100/mo | 1M | Compare → |
No public API
Methodology
Public API pricing per 1M input tokens, USD. Sourced from each vendor's pricing page. Models without public API are listed below the ranking.
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