AI Model API Cost Comparison Guide
Cost Structure Basics
- Input tokens: Text sent to the API
- Output tokens: Text received from the API
- API call: Each request to the service
- 1M tokens ≈ 750,000 words
Provider Cost Rankings (Lowest to Highest)
Most Affordable Models (Under $1 per 1M tokens input)
- Google Gemini-1.5-flash: $0.07/1M input tokens
- OpenAI GPT-4-mini: $0.15/1M input tokens
- Anthropic Claude-3-haiku: $0.25/1M input tokens
- OpenAI GPT-3.5-turbo: $0.50/1M input tokens
Mid-Range Models ($1-5 per 1M tokens input)
- OpenAI GPT-4o: $5.00/1M input tokens
- Anthropic Claude-3.5-sonnet: $3.00/1M input tokens
- Google Gemini-1.5-pro: $3.50/1M input tokens
- Mistral-large: $3.00/1M input tokens
Premium Models ($10+ per 1M tokens input)
- OpenAI GPT-4-turbo: $10.00/1M input tokens
- OpenAI GPT-4: $30.00/1M input tokens
Cost Per API Call Comparison
Budget-Friendly Options (Under $0.001 per call)
- Google Gemini-1.5-flash: $0.0002
- OpenAI GPT-4o-mini: $0.0003
- Anthropic Claude-3-haiku: $0.0006
- OpenAI GPT-3.5-turbo: $0.0008
Standard Options ($0.001-0.01 per call)
- Google Gemini-1.5-pro: $0.0056
- Mistral-large: $0.0048
- Anthropic Claude-3.5-sonnet: $0.0078
- OpenAI GPT-4o: $0.0080
Premium Options ($0.01+ per call)
- OpenAI GPT-4-turbo: $0.0160
- OpenAI GPT-4: $0.0330
Cost Optimization Tips
- Input Cost Reduction
- Use shorter prompts
- Remove unnecessary context
- Batch related requests
- Output Cost Management
- Set maximum token limits
- Use specific instructions
- Request concise responses
- API Call Efficiency
- Combine related queries
- Cache common responses
- Use batch processing
Best Value Choices By Use Case
- High-Volume, Simple Tasks
- Google Gemini-1.5-flash
- OpenAI GPT-4o-mini
- Claude-3-haiku
- Balance of Cost and Capability
- Claude-3.5-sonnet
- Mistral-large
- Gemini-1.5-pro
- Complex Tasks Requiring Advanced Capabilities
- GPT-4-turbo
- GPT-4 (when accuracy is critical)
Cost Calculation Formula
Total Cost = (Input Tokens × Input Price) + (Output Tokens × Output Price)
