39 models · 10 providers · Updated Jun 2026

Find the Cheapest AI Model for Your Use Case

Answer 3 quick questions and we'll recommend the cheapest model that fits your needs — with instant cost estimates.

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What will you use the AI for?

Different models excel at different tasks. Pick your primary use case.

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Monthly Cost Estimate (2K input / 500 output tokens per request)

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How we calculate: Cost estimates use published API pricing per 1M tokens. Actual costs depend on your specific token usage, which varies by prompt complexity and response length. Our estimates assume 2,000 input tokens and 500 output tokens per request — a typical chatbot interaction. Use our full calculator for precise estimates.

Frequently Asked Questions

The cheapest AI API model is Gemini 2.0 Flash Lite at $0.075/$0.30 per 1M tokens (input/output). For general tasks, DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.14/$0.28) offers the best value with 1M context. For code-specific tasks, Llama 3.1 8B at $0.10/$0.10 is the cheapest option.

For customer support chatbots, DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.14/$0.28 per 1M tokens) is the cheapest capable option. For higher quality, Gemini 2.0 Flash ($0.10/$0.40) balances cost and quality well. For premium chatbots, GPT-5 mini ($0.25/$2.00) or Claude Haiku 4.5 ($1.00/$5.00) offer strong quality at reasonable prices.

For a chatbot handling 1,000 requests/day with 2K input and 500 output tokens each: Gemini 2.0 Flash Lite costs ~$0.79/month, DeepSeek V4 Flash costs ~$2.19/month, and GPT-4o mini costs ~$3.75/month. Enterprise scale (100K requests/day) ranges from $79 to $375/month depending on model choice.

It depends on the task. For simple classification, summarization, and Q&A, budget models like DeepSeek V4 Flash and Gemini 2.0 Flash perform comparably to premium models at 90%+ lower cost. For complex reasoning, multi-step coding, and nuanced analysis, premium models like GPT-5 and Claude Opus 4.8 still outperform. The key is matching model capability to task complexity.