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Cheapest LLM APIs

The cheapest paid LLM API is IBM: Granite 4.0 Micro at $0.017 per 1M input tokens and $0.112 output. 21 models are completely free at list price. Rankings below cover the 25 cheapest models by input price, output price, and blended (80% input / 20% output) price, from the October 22, 2026 snapshot.

Cheapest by input price

#ModelProviderInput /1MOutput /1MContext
1Recursive: Flint (free)recursiveFreeFree262,144
2MiniMax: MiniMax M3.1 Flash (free)minimaxFreeFree1,000,000
3XingChen: Xing4.0 29B A4B (free)xingchen-agiFreeFree262,144
4NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
5Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free)dots-studioFreeFree512,000
6LiquidAI: LFM2.5-2.6B (free)liquidFreeFree65,536
7NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
8Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free)thinkingmachinesFreeFree1,048,576
9Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)poolsideFreeFree262,144
10Thinking Machines: Inkling (free)thinkingmachinesFreeFree1,048,576
11Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free)poolsideFreeFree262,144
12Cohere: North Mini Code (free)cohereFreeFree256,000
13NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free)nvidiaFreeFree128,000
14NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Ultra (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
15NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)nvidiaFreeFree256,000
16Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)googleFreeFree262,144
17Google: Gemma 4 31B (free)googleFreeFree262,144
18Google: Lyria 3 Pro PreviewgoogleFreeFree1,048,576
19Google: Lyria 3 Clip PreviewgoogleFreeFree1,048,576
20NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super (free)nvidiaFreeFree262,144
21Free Models RouteropenrouterFreeFree200,000
22IBM: Granite 4.0 Microibm-granite$0.017$0.112131,000
23OpenAI: gpt-oss-20bopenai$0.018$0.09131,072
24inclusionAI: Ling 3.0 Flashinclusionai$0.021$0.063262,144
25OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch)openai$0.024$0.112131,072

Cheapest by output price

#ModelProviderInput /1MOutput /1MContext
1Recursive: Flint (free)recursiveFreeFree262,144
2MiniMax: MiniMax M3.1 Flash (free)minimaxFreeFree1,000,000
3XingChen: Xing4.0 29B A4B (free)xingchen-agiFreeFree262,144
4NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
5Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free)dots-studioFreeFree512,000
6LiquidAI: LFM2.5-2.6B (free)liquidFreeFree65,536
7NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
8Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free)thinkingmachinesFreeFree1,048,576
9Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)poolsideFreeFree262,144
10Thinking Machines: Inkling (free)thinkingmachinesFreeFree1,048,576
11Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free)poolsideFreeFree262,144
12Cohere: North Mini Code (free)cohereFreeFree256,000
13NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free)nvidiaFreeFree128,000
14NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Ultra (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
15NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)nvidiaFreeFree256,000
16Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)googleFreeFree262,144
17Google: Gemma 4 31B (free)googleFreeFree262,144
18Google: Lyria 3 Pro PreviewgoogleFreeFree1,048,576
19Google: Lyria 3 Clip PreviewgoogleFreeFree1,048,576
20NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super (free)nvidiaFreeFree262,144
21Free Models RouteropenrouterFreeFree200,000
22ScaleDown: Summarizescaledown$0.04Free1,000,000
23ScaleDown: Extractscaledown$0.04Free1,000,000
24Mistral: Mistral Nemomistralai$0.029$0.03131,072
25Google: Gemma 3 4Bgoogle$0.04$0.05131,072

Cheapest by blended price (80/20)

#ModelProviderInput /1MOutput /1MContext
1Recursive: Flint (free)recursiveFreeFree262,144
2MiniMax: MiniMax M3.1 Flash (free)minimaxFreeFree1,000,000
3XingChen: Xing4.0 29B A4B (free)xingchen-agiFreeFree262,144
4NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Super VL (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
5Dots Studio: Dots3-Note Preview (free)dots-studioFreeFree512,000
6LiquidAI: LFM2.5-2.6B (free)liquidFreeFree65,536
7NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Lightning (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
8Thinking Machines: Inkling Small (free)thinkingmachinesFreeFree1,048,576
9Poolside: Laguna S 2.1 (free)poolsideFreeFree262,144
10Thinking Machines: Inkling (free)thinkingmachinesFreeFree1,048,576
11Poolside: Laguna XS 2.1 (free)poolsideFreeFree262,144
12Cohere: North Mini Code (free)cohereFreeFree256,000
13NVIDIA: Nemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free)nvidiaFreeFree128,000
14NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Ultra (free)nvidiaFreeFree1,000,000
15NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free)nvidiaFreeFree256,000
16Google: Gemma 4 26B A4B (free)googleFreeFree262,144
17Google: Gemma 4 31B (free)googleFreeFree262,144
18Google: Lyria 3 Pro PreviewgoogleFreeFree1,048,576
19Google: Lyria 3 Clip PreviewgoogleFreeFree1,048,576
20NVIDIA: Nemotron 3 Super (free)nvidiaFreeFree262,144
21Free Models RouteropenrouterFreeFree200,000
22Mistral: Mistral Nemomistralai$0.029$0.03131,072
23inclusionAI: Ling 3.0 Flashinclusionai$0.021$0.063262,144
24ScaleDown: Summarizescaledown$0.04Free1,000,000
25ScaleDown: Extractscaledown$0.04Free1,000,000

Ranking from the October 22, 2026 snapshot, refreshed daily. How we collect prices