Top Picks for API Cost
DeepSeek V3
Consistently among the lowest per-token pricing for a model with genuinely competitive general capability.
View profile →GPT-4o mini
OpenAI's budget API tier, well-suited to high-volume applications where per-request cost matters most.
View profile →Gemini 2.0 Flash
A low-cost API option from Google balancing speed, price, and capability.
View profile →What Actually Drives Your API Bill
Beyond the headline per-token rate, your real cost depends on average request length (both input and output tokens), request volume, and whether you're using any caching to avoid redundant repeated calls. See our Tokenization page for how token count is actually calculated.
Comparing APIs Directly
See our APIs directory for individual provider profiles and current pricing, and our Token Calculator to estimate your specific usage cost.
Related Pages
Frequently Asked
Is the cheapest API always the best choice for developers?
Only if it meets your accuracy and reliability requirements — test against your actual use case before committing purely on price.
Do open-weight model APIs cost less than closed ones?
Often yes, since providers hosting open-weight models frequently compete aggressively on price; compare current rates directly since this shifts often.
How can I reduce my API costs without switching providers?
Reducing prompt and response length, caching repeated requests, and matching model size to task complexity are all effective levers; see our LLM Optimization guide.
Where can I find a completely free API option?
See our Free LLM API roundup.