The cheapest LLM APIs
The cheapest LLM API right now is ministral-3-3b-2512 from Mistral: $0.1 per million input tokens and $0.1 per million output tokens, so a typical request of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens costs $0.00015. Below are the 20 cheapest of 90 models, and the cheapest from each provider.
Prices updated October 28, 2026
Cheapest models overall
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Cached input / 1M | Output / 1M | Typical request |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ministral-3-3b-2512 | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.1 | $0.00015 |
| ministral-3b-2512 | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.1 | $0.00015 |
| ministral-3-8b-2512 | Mistral | $0.15 | $0.015 | $0.15 | $0.000225 |
| ministral-8b-2512 | Mistral | $0.15 | $0.015 | $0.15 | $0.000225 |
| gpt-5-nano | OpenAI | $0.05 | $0.005 | $0.4 | $0.00025 |
| mistral-small | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.3 | $0.00025 |
| deepseek-coder | DeepSeek | $0.14 | $0.014 | $0.28 | $0.00028 |
| gemini-2.5-flash-lite | Google Gemini | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.4 | $0.0003 |
| ministral-3-14b-2512 | Mistral | $0.2 | $0.02 | $0.2 | $0.0003 |
| ministral-14b-2512 | Mistral | $0.2 | $0.02 | $0.2 | $0.0003 |
| gpt-6-luna | OpenAI | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.5 | $0.00035 |
| claude-haiku-5-5 | Anthropic | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.5 | $0.00035 |
| mistral-tiny | Mistral | $0.25 | $0.025 | $0.25 | $0.000375 |
| gpt-4o-mini | OpenAI | $0.15 | $0.075 | $0.6 | $0.00045 |
| open-mistral-nemo | Mistral | $0.3 | $0.03 | $0.3 | $0.00045 |
| deepseek-v3.2 | DeepSeek | $0.28 | $0.028 | $0.4 | $0.00048 |
| codestral-2508 | Mistral | $0.3 | $0.03 | $0.9 | $0.00075 |
| gpt-5.6-luna | OpenAI | $0.2 | $0.02 | $1.2 | $0.0008 |
| deepseek-v3 | DeepSeek | $0.27 | $0.07 | $1.1 | $0.00082 |
| gpt-5.4-nano | OpenAI | $0.2 | $0.02 | $1.25 | $0.000825 |
Cheapest model from each provider
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Cached input / 1M | Output / 1M | Typical request |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gpt-5-nano | OpenAI | $0.05 | $0.005 | $0.4 | $0.00025 |
| claude-haiku-5-5 | Anthropic | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.5 | $0.00035 |
| gemini-2.5-flash-lite | Google Gemini | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.4 | $0.0003 |
| ministral-3-3b-2512 | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.01 | $0.1 | $0.00015 |
| deepseek-coder | DeepSeek | $0.14 | $0.014 | $0.28 | $0.00028 |
| grok-build-0.1 | xAI | $1 | $0.2 | $2 | $0.002 |
Cheapest model with a given feature
| Feature | Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Typical request |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | gpt-5-nano | OpenAI | $0.05 | $0.4 | $0.00025 |
| Image input | ministral-3-3b-2512 | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.00015 |
| Tool calling | ministral-3-3b-2512 | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.00015 |
| 1M+ token context | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | Google Gemini | $0.1 | $0.4 | $0.0003 |
Ranked by the cost of a typical request of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens at standard rates. Models listed at $0 are left out. The batch API and prompt caching make most models cheaper still, see batch API pricing and prompt caching pricing.
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