How much do tokens cost? LLM pricing per million tokens compared across providers
Token costs are small per-request but add up fast at scale. Use prompt caching for repeated content, batch mode for non-urgent processing, and cheaper models for tasks that don't need frontier intelligence. The built-in LLM Pricing Calculator on this site estimates costs across models and usage patterns.
LLM API pricing is quoted per million tokens, split between input tokens (what you send) and output tokens (what the model generates). Output tokens typically cost 3-5x more than input tokens because generation is computationally more expensive. The cheapest models (DeepSeek V4 Flash, GPT-5.4 Nano) cost under $0.50 per million input tokens. The most expensive (Claude Opus 4.8) costs $5 per million input tokens.
By TechCompare · Updated
How this is calculated
To calculate cost: (input_tokens / 1,000,000) × input_price + (output_tokens / 1,000,000) × output_price. A single ChatGPT interaction with a 500-token prompt and 200-token response on GPT-5.4 costs roughly $0.003. A high-volume application processing 1 million requests per day with 1,000 input tokens and 500 output tokens each on GPT-5.4 costs about $7,500 per day. Prompt caching dramatically reduces costs for repeated content: cached input tokens on GPT-5.4 cost $0.25 per million (90% discount). Batch mode (24-hour turnaround) gives a 50% discount. Always check if your use case qualifies for caching or batch pricing before scaling.
Verdict
Pricing splits between input and output tokens, with output usually 3-5x pricier because generation is compute heavy. The math is (input / 1,000,000) x input price plus (output / 1,000,000) x output price. A 500-token in and 200-token out GPT-5.4 chat costs about $0.003, but a million calls a day at 1K in and 500 out runs around $7,500 daily. Cached input on GPT-5.4 drops to $0.25 per million, and batch mode shaves another 50% for 24-hour turnaround.
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Frequently asked questions
Why do output tokens cost more than input tokens?
How do I calculate the cost of an LLM request?
How much do prompt caching and batch mode save?
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