Provider comparison
AI model & provider cost comparison
This AI model cost comparison ranks each major provider's frontier flagship by blended list price. Across 8 frontier models, the cheapest blended rate is DeepSeek's DeepSeek V4 Pro at $0.566 per 1M tokens, while the priciest flagship is $22.00, about a 39x spread. But the cheaper provider for your app flips with output share, prompt caching, and retries, not the headline token price, so compare candidates on your real workload. These are list prices; verify the provider source before production billing decisions.
Frontier flagship cost by provider, ranked cheapest first
Each major provider's top flagship, blended at a 70% input / 30% output mix from the ByteCosts pricing index. Output usually costs several times more than input, so weight the output column.
| Provider | Flagship | Input /1M | Output /1M | Blend /1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek V4 Pro | $0.435 | $0.870 | $0.566 | 1M |
| Moonshot AI | Kimi K2.6 | $0.950 | $4.00 | $1.86 | 262K |
| xAI | Grok 4.5 | $2.00 | $6.00 | $3.20 | 500K |
| Mistral | Mistral Medium 3.5 | $1.50 | $7.50 | $3.30 | 262K |
| Google Gemini | Gemini 3.5 Flash | $1.50 | $9.00 | $3.75 | 1M |
| Alibaba Qwen | Qwen3.7 Max | $2.50 | $7.50 | $4.00 | 1M |
| OpenAI | GPT-5.5 | $5.00 | $30.00 | $12.50 | 1.1M |
| Anthropic | Claude Fable 5 | $10.00 | $50.00 | $22.00 | 1M |
Cheapest provider by workload type
The same flagships, re-ranked by the rate that dominates each workload. Output costs several times more than input, so the deciding rate, and sometimes the cheapest provider itself, shifts with your traffic. Pick by your input-to-output mix, not one headline price.
| Workload | Cheapest provider | Flagship | Cheapest rate /1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy: RAG, classification, long context in | DeepSeek | DeepSeek V4 Pro | $0.435 input |
| Output-heavy: agents, reasoning, long-form | DeepSeek | DeepSeek V4 Pro | $0.870 output |
| Balanced chat: 70% input / 30% output | DeepSeek | DeepSeek V4 Pro | $0.566 blended |
Why the cheapest provider depends on your workload
The headline comparison above is the starting point, not the answer. Output tokens cost several times more than input, so the bill is driven by how much each model emits, how often calls retry, and what fraction of the prompt prefix is served from cache, not the per-input rate. A cheaper input price routinely loses once long, uncached outputs and power users are priced in.
That is why the cheaper provider flips with the shape of your traffic. Output-heavy work (agents, reasoning, long-form generation) rewards the lower output rate; broad, short-output chat rewards the lower blended rate; a large shared system prompt rewards whichever side reads cache cheaply. Pick by simulating your real input:output ratio, retry overhead, and cache hit rate rather than comparing two headline prices.
Frequently asked questions
Which AI model is the cheapest?
By blended list price, DeepSeek's DeepSeek V4 Pro is the cheapest frontier flagship in the ByteCosts index at $0.566 per 1M tokens (70% input / 30% output). Cheapest on paper rarely means cheapest in production, though: output-heavy workloads, retries, and prompt caching can move the ranking, so confirm the winner against your own token mix.
Does the headline token price decide which AI provider is cheaper?
No. Output tokens cost several times more than input, so a model that emits fewer tokens can win even at a higher per-token rate. Prompt-cache hit rate and retry or tool-loop overhead move the bill more than the input price, which is why the cheaper provider flips with the shape of your workload.
Which AI provider is cheapest for output-heavy or agentic workloads?
Rank by the output rate, not the blend, because output tokens dominate agent and reasoning bills. By output list price, DeepSeek's DeepSeek V4 Pro is the cheapest frontier flagship at $0.870 per 1M output tokens, while input-heavy work like RAG or classification favors DeepSeek at $0.435 per 1M input. The blended board ranks everyday chat; pick the rate that matches your token mix.
Where do these AI pricing numbers come from, and how current are they?
Each rate comes from the provider's official pricing pages, normalized into the ByteCosts pricing index and dated. This comparison was last updated July 9, 2026; every record carries a source link and a confidence grade. Prices are list prices and exclude negotiated or volume discounts, so verify the provider source before production billing decisions.
How do I compare AI providers on my own workload?
Open the AI app cost calculator or Scenario Studio and enter your real seats, token mix, retry rate, and cache hit rate. Modeling your actual usage is the only reliable way to rank providers, because the cheapest flagship depends on how much output you generate, not the headline rate.
AI model & provider cost comparison. ByteCosts. Updated July 9, 2026. https://bytecosts.com/compare/