AI API Cost Calculator

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AI API Costs

Estimate your AI spending, compare model pricing, and understand what your real-world workloads actually cost.

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11Pricing guides
8Models in calculator
Oct 2026Prices verified

About

About API Cost Lab

API Cost Lab is an independent resource for developers who want honest, verified numbers on what AI APIs actually cost.

Every pricing guide on this site is built the same way:

  • Official sources first. Prices come from the provider's own documentation and pricing pages — not rumors, not scraped snippets.
  • Worked math. Headline per-token prices don't tell you your bill. Each guide runs a realistic reference workload (1,100 tasks/month) so you can see monthly costs, not just rates.
  • Verification dates. Prices change constantly in this market. Every guide states when its numbers were last checked.
  • Corrections. When a price changes or we get something wrong, the article is updated. Accuracy is the whole point of this site.

The calculator

The AI API Cost Calculator lets you plug in your own token usage and compare monthly costs across models. It runs entirely in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Who runs this

API Cost Lab is an independent project by a developer working with AI APIs and app development. No sponsors, no paid placements — if a price appears here, it's because it's published, not because someone paid for it.

Limitations

Estimates exclude taxes, infrastructure costs, and tool charges. Prices are verified at publication time but providers reprice often — always confirm against official documentation before budgeting.

Popular posts from this blog

GPT-5.6 API Pricing: The November 21 Deadline

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Last updated: October 2026 If you're running GPT-5.6 through the API right now, you're on a promotional price. And that promotion has an expiry date: November 21, 2026 . OpenAI's pricing page states the current rate is "available at least through November 21, 2026." Read that carefully. "At least through" — not "until." The promo could extend. It could also end exactly on that date. OpenAI has published no pricing for what comes after. This post lays out exactly what the pricing is today, what it costs on a realistic workload , and how to budget for the unknown that follows November 21. The Current Pricing, Exactly GPT-5.6 is available in several variants. The one most developers are using — the flagship reasoning model, referred to here as GPT-5.6 Sol — is currently priced at: Input: $4.00 per 1M tokens Cached input: $0.40 per 1M tokens Output: $20.00 per 1M tokens That is promotional pricing. Before the promo, announced August 21,...
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Argon vs Wonder: Which AI Should Developers Build On?

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Last updated: October 2026 Two flagship models, two very different price tags — and one of the prices is about to double. If you're choosing a foundation model to build on right now, the decision isn't just about capability. It's about timing. Here's the honest comparison: what each model costs, what the benchmarks actually say, and which one to pick depending on what you're optimizing for. The Pricing: Read the Dates Gemini 4 Argon is on introductory pricing: $2.00 per 1M input tokens / $10.00 per 1M output tokens / $0.10 per 1M cached input tokens . That intro rate runs through November 30, 2026 . From December 1 , the price doubles to $4.00 / $20.00 / $0.20 cached . Muse Wonder is priced at $4.00 / $20.00 per 1M tokens, with cached input at $0.20 — no intro period, no scheduled change. So today, Argon costs half what Wonder does. On December 1, they cost exactly the same. That convergence matters more than it looks. Every cost comparison you run today ...
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AI API Cost Calculator: Estimate Your Monthly LLM Bill

AI API Cost Calculator Estimate your monthly LLM API spend. Enter your workload below and compare costs across models . Prices verified October 2026 — always re-check the provider's pricing page before budgeting. Tasks per month Fresh input tokens / task Cached input tokens / task Output tokens / task Batch API mode (50% off — for work that can wait hours) Your cost per model Prices per 1M tokens, verified Oct 2026. GPT-5.6 Sol promo: "available at least through Nov 21, 2026" (OpenAI). Argon intro through Nov 30, 2026, then $4/$20 from Dec 1. "Post-promo" Sol uses the pre-promo $5/$30 list price as the only concrete scenario — not a prediction. All cache rates shown are published rate-card figures. This is an estimate, not a quote.
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