AI Token Cost Calculator
Estimate your AI API costs before you spend. Compare GPT, Claude, and Gemini pricing in seconds.
$2.5/1M input tokens · $10/1M output tokens · Context: 128,000 tokens
Used to project your monthly cost (assumes 30 days).
Input Cost
$0.0025
Output Cost
$0.0050
Total Cost / Request
$0.0075
Projected Monthly Cost
Based on your requests/day input
$22.50
Compare All Models
Cost for the same 1,000 input / 500 output tokens, cheapest first.
| Model | Provider | Input Cost | Output Cost | Total Cost | Context Window |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 1.5 FlashCheapest | $0.0001 | $0.0002 | $0.0002 | 1,000,000 | |
| GPT-4o mini | OpenAI | $0.0002 | $0.0003 | $0.0005 | 128,000 |
| Claude Haiku | Anthropic | $0.0008 | $0.0020 | $0.0028 | 200,000 |
| Gemini 1.5 Pro | $0.0013 | $0.0025 | $0.0038 | 1,000,000 | |
| GPT-4o | OpenAI | $0.0025 | $0.0050 | $0.0075 | 128,000 |
| Claude Sonnet | Anthropic | $0.0030 | $0.0075 | $0.0105 | 200,000 |
| Claude Opus | Anthropic | $0.0150 | $0.0375 | $0.0525 | 200,000 |
LLM Pricing Calculator
"LLM pricing" isn't one number — it's several different pricing models stacked on top of each other: pay-as-you-go API billing, flat consumer subscriptions, negotiated enterprise contracts, and the fixed-cost alternative of self-hosting an open model. Which one applies to you changes the entire calculation. Growfiy's calculator focuses on the API pricing model — the one that actually scales with your usage — and this page walks through where it fits against the alternatives.
Useful if you're trying to figure out whether you need a subscription, an API key, or an enterprise conversation in the first place.
The Four LLM Pricing Models
- Pay-as-you-go API: billed per token (input and output priced separately), scales directly with usage, no monthly cap — this is what Growfiy's calculator estimates.
- Flat consumer subscription: a fixed monthly fee (like ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro) for using the provider's own chat interface, with soft usage limits rather than per-token billing.
- Enterprise / committed-use contracts: negotiated pricing based on guaranteed volume, often bundled with SLAs, dedicated support, or custom model access — not listed on public pricing pages.
- Self-hosted open-source models: no per-token fee at all — cost shifts to GPU/infrastructure and engineering time, which only becomes economical at high, steady usage volumes.
Which Pricing Model Fits You
- Individual user, occasional use: a flat subscription is usually simpler and cheaper than metering usage through the API.
- Building a product or feature: the API is your only option — subscriptions don't offer programmatic access.
- Growing startup with rising usage: start on API pricing, track your monthly spend, and reach out for enterprise terms once volume becomes significant.
- Very high, predictable volume: it's worth evaluating self-hosted open models against API costs, since fixed infrastructure can become cheaper at scale.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between API pricing and a subscription like ChatGPT Plus?
A consumer subscription (like ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro) charges a flat monthly fee for usage inside that provider's own app, with soft usage limits. API pricing is pay-as-you-go per token, meant for building your own product on top of the model, with no bundled interface and costs that scale directly with usage.
When does it make sense to use the API instead of a subscription?
If you're building a product or automation that calls the model programmatically, you need the API — subscriptions don't offer this. If you're a single user just chatting with the model directly, a subscription is usually cheaper and simpler than metering your own usage through the API.
Do LLM providers offer volume discounts for high usage?
Larger providers often have enterprise or high-volume pricing tiers with negotiated rates, batch processing discounts, or committed-use pricing, but these are typically arranged directly with sales rather than published on the standard pricing page — worth inquiring about once your usage crosses a meaningful threshold.
Is self-hosting an open-source LLM cheaper than using a paid API?
It depends on your volume and scale. Self-hosting shifts cost from per-token API fees to fixed infrastructure (GPUs, hosting, maintenance, engineering time), which can be cheaper at very high, steady volume but often costs more than API pricing at low-to-moderate usage once you account for setup and operational overhead.
Why do enterprise LLM contracts not show public pricing?
Enterprise agreements are usually customized around committed usage volume, SLAs, support tiers, and sometimes model customization, so providers negotiate these case by case rather than publishing a fixed rate — this is standard practice across most B2B software with usage-based pricing.
How do I estimate my own cost if I'm not sure which pricing model fits?
Start with the pay-as-you-go API estimate using the calculator above, since it reflects true usage-based cost with no bundling. If your estimated monthly spend approaches or exceeds a subscription's flat fee for a single-user case, or crosses into high-volume territory, that's the signal to evaluate subscriptions or enterprise pricing instead.