Complete LLM API Pricing Ranking (April 2026)
Here is every major LLM API ranked from cheapest to most expensive, based on published pricing as of April 2026.
| Rank | Model | Input (per 1M) | Output (per 1M) | Provider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mistral Nemo | $0.02 | $0.04 | Mistral |
| 2 | GPT-4o-mini | $0.15 | $0.60 | OpenAI |
| 2 | Gemini 2.5 Flash | $0.15 | $0.60 | |
| 4 | GPT-5-mini | $0.25 | $2.00 | OpenAI |
| 5 | DeepSeek V3 | $0.28 | $0.42 | DeepSeek |
| 6 | Claude Haiku 3.5 | $0.80 | $4.00 | Anthropic |
| 7 | Gemini 2.5 Pro | $1.25 | $10.00 | |
| 8 | Mistral Large | $2.00 | $6.00 | Mistral |
| 9 | GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 | OpenAI |
| 10 | Claude Sonnet 4 | $3.00 | $15.00 | Anthropic |
| 11 | Claude Opus 4.6 | $5.00 | $25.00 | Anthropic |
| 12 | GPT-5 | $10.00 | $30.00 | OpenAI |
Prices are approximate and may vary. Check provider pricing pages for current rates. Last updated April 2026.
Budget Tier: Under $1.00 per 1M Input Tokens
The budget tier includes models from all major providers. Mistral Nemo leads at $0.02/$0.04, though its capabilities are more limited — think of it as a specialized tool for lightweight tasks like classification and basic extraction rather than a general-purpose assistant.
GPT-4o-mini and Gemini 2.5 Flash are the sweet spot for budget-conscious teams that still need general-purpose capabilities. At $0.15/$0.60, they handle chat, summarization, extraction, and simple reasoning competently. DeepSeek V3 at $0.28/$0.42 offers arguably the best quality-per-dollar in this tier.
Claude Haiku 3.5 at $0.80/$4.00 straddles the line between budget and mid-tier. It costs more than the others in this bracket but delivers noticeably better output quality, particularly on writing and nuanced tasks.
Mid Tier: $1.00 - $5.00 per 1M Input Tokens
The mid tier is where most production workloads live. Gemini 2.5 Pro, Mistral Large, GPT-4o, and Claude Sonnet 4 all fall here. These models offer frontier-class quality at prices that scale reasonably for most applications.
Within this tier, Gemini 2.5 Pro at $1.25/$10.00 stands out as the value leader thanks to its massive context window. Mistral Large at $2.00/$6.00 offers the cheapest output tokens among mid-tier models. GPT-4o and Claude Sonnet 4 command premiums for their respective ecosystem advantages and quality leadership.
Premium Tier: $5.00+ per 1M Input Tokens
Claude Opus 4.6 and GPT-5 are reserved for tasks that demand absolute frontier capability. At $5.00/$25.00 and $10.00/$30.00 respectively, they represent the most expensive options but also the most capable. Use them selectively for high-value tasks rather than routing all traffic through them.
How Token Landing Optimizes Across Tiers
Rather than picking a single model, Token Landing's hybrid routing lets you blend tiers. A typical configuration routes 60-80% of traffic through budget or mid-tier models and reserves premium models for complex, user-facing requests. The result is an effective rate of roughly $0.80-1.50 input / $3.00-6.00 output per 1M tokens — premium-quality where it matters, at a fraction of premium-only pricing.
Integrate with one API endpoint and let your routing policy handle the rest.