AI API Pricing in August 2026
A provider-by-provider snapshot of current AI API list prices, shown per 1 million tokens where applicable.
Source policy: Price claims are checked against primary provider pricing pages. This page is independent and is not an official OpenAI or provider publication. Always confirm the linked provider page before budgeting.
August 2026 marks the second full month after Anthropic retired Claude 4 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4. The 95-model market has settled into a stable rhythm. Budget tiers continue to compress, the mid-tier is more competitive than ever, and for the first time since the deprecation dust settled, we can see clear pricing trends emerging.
This guide compares listed prices for major AI API models, the post-deprecation landscape, Q3 pricing trends, and lower-cost options by use case.
📊 Market Stability: Post-Deprecation Settled
Two months after Claude 4 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4 were retired, the market has stabilized. Claude Opus 4.7/4.8 ($5/$25) and Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3/$15) are firmly established as the replacements. No major deprecations are expected through Q3 2026. If you haven't migrated from the retired models yet, your code is likely broken — switch now.
Complete Pricing: All 59 Models
Every major AI API model ranked by input price. All prices per 1 million tokens.
Budget Tier — Under $0.60/1M Input
Rock-bottom prices for everyday tasks. Chatbots, classifiers, content tools — start here.
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.075 | $0.30 | 1M | |
| GPT-oss 20B | OpenAI | $0.08 | $0.35 | 128K |
| Llama 3.1 8B | Meta (Together.ai) | $0.10 | $0.10 | 128K |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.10 | $0.40 | 1M | |
| Llama 4 Scout | Meta (Together.ai) | $0.11 | $0.34 | 10M |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | DeepSeek | $0.22 | $0.28 | 1M |
| GPT-4o mini | OpenAI | $0.15 | $0.60 | 128K |
| GPT-oss 120B | OpenAI | $0.15 | $0.60 | 128K |
| Mistral Small 4 | Mistral | $0.15 | $0.60 | 128K |
| Llama 4 Maverick | Meta (Together.ai) | $0.20 | $0.60 | 10M |
| GPT-5 mini | OpenAI | $0.25 | $2.00 | 272K |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | DeepSeek | $0.27 | $1.10 | 128K |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro | DeepSeek | $0.66 | $1.98 | 1M |
| Mistral Large 3 | Mistral | $0.50 | $1.50 | 128K |
| Command R | Cohere | $0.50 | $1.50 | 128K |
| Grok Build 0.1 | xAI | $0.30 | $0.50 | 256K |
Mid Tier — $0.50–$3.00/1M Input
The sweet spot for production workloads. Strong reasoning at reasonable prices.
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Llama 3.1 70B | Meta (Together.ai) | $0.88 | $0.88 | 128K |
| Kimi K2.6 | Moonshot | $0.90 | $3.75 | 256K |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Anthropic | $1.00 | $5.00 | 200K |
| Gemini 2.5 Pro | $1.25 | $10.00 | 1M | |
| GPT-5 | OpenAI | $1.25 | $10.00 | 272K |
| GPT-5.3 Codex | OpenAI | $1.75 | $14.00 | 400K |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | $2.00 | $12.00 | 1M | |
| Jamba 1.5 Large | AI21 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 256K |
| GPT-4o | OpenAI | $2.50 | $10.00 | 128K |
| Command R+ | Cohere | $2.50 | $10.00 | 128K |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Anthropic | $3.00 | $15.00 | 1M |
| Grok 4.3 | xAI | $1.25 | $2.50 | 1M |
Premium Tier — $5.00+/1M Input
For complex reasoning, code generation, and high-stakes tasks where quality is non-negotiable.
| Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1M |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | Anthropic | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1M |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI | $5.00 | $30.00 | 1M |
| GPT-5.5 Pro | OpenAI | $30.00 | $180.00 | 1M |
Q3 2026 Pricing Trends
1. The Market Has Stabilized
After the June 15 deprecation of Claude 4 Opus and Claude Sonnet 4.6, August sees a calm market. No major model retirements are expected through Q3. The 64-model landscape is the new normal — at least until Q4 when OpenAI and Google typically announce new generations.
2. Budget Tier Compression Continues
The sub-$0.15/M tier is now crowded. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.075/M), GPT-oss 20B ($0.08/M), Llama 3.1 8B ($0.10/M), and Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite ($0.10/M) all compete in the same space. The 133,000-tokens-per-penny mark set in July still holds — no provider has broken below it yet.
3. Mid-Tier Is the New Premium
For most production workloads, the $1–3/M tier delivers everything you need. Claude Haiku 4.5 ($1/M) handles 90% of tasks that used to require premium models. Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3/M) with 1M context is the best code generation model at any price. Going premium ($5+/M) is only justified for the most complex reasoning tasks.
4. Open Source Holds Steady
Meta's Llama 4 Scout ($0.18/M, 1M context) remains the only model offering 1M token context at budget pricing. No new Llama releases are expected until late Q3 or Q4. Together.ai's managed hosting continues to make open-source models zero-ops for teams without infrastructure.
5. xAI Pricing Remains an Outlier
Grok 4.3 at $1.25/$2.50 per 1M tokens is now competitive after xAI's rebrand and repricing. Grok Build 0.1 ($1.00/$2.00) joins the budget tier. The old Grok 3 ($30/$150) has been retired.
Best Deals by Use Case
| Use Case | Best Model | Why |
|---|---|---|
| High-volume chatbot | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Cheapest at $0.075/M, handles most chat tasks |
| Quality chatbot | Claude Haiku 4.5 | $1/M with Anthropic's quality |
| Code generation | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Best code quality at $3/M, 1M context |
| Document analysis | Gemini 2.5 Pro | 1M context at $1.25/M |
| Classification / extraction | GPT-4o mini | $0.15/M, fast, reliable structured output |
| RAG / retrieval | DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.22/M with 1M context |
| Content writing | GPT-5 mini | $0.25/M, strong writing at budget price |
| Complex reasoning | Claude Opus 4.7 | Best reasoning quality at $5/M |
| Agent / multi-step | GPT-5 | $1.25/M, strong tool use, 272K context |
| Long documents (10M+) | Llama 4 Scout | Only model with 1M context at $0.11/M |
| Budget all-around | DeepSeek V4 Pro | $0.66/M with 1M context — best value pick |
What $100/Month Gets You in August 2026
Assuming 1,000 tokens per request with a 50/50 input/output split:
| Tier | Model | Requests for $100 | Daily Average |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | ~571,000 | ~19,000/day |
| Budget | DeepSeek V4 Flash | ~476,000 | ~15,900/day |
| Budget | Llama 4 Scout | ~434,000 | ~14,500/day |
| Mid | Claude Haiku 4.5 | ~62,500 | ~2,100/day |
| Mid | GPT-5 | ~30,800 | ~1,030/day |
| Mid | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | ~22,200 | ~740/day |
| Premium | Claude Opus 4.7 | ~8,000 | ~267/day |
| Premium | GPT-5.5 | ~7,700 | ~257/day |
The range: 19,000 requests/day to 257 requests/day for the same $100 budget. Model selection is the single biggest cost lever you have.
Provider Comparison at a Glance
| Provider | Models | Cheapest | Most Expensive | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | 9 | $0.08/M | $180/M | Widest range, agents |
| Anthropic | 4 | $1.00/M | $25/M | Code, reasoning |
| 4 | $0.075/M | $12/M | Budget, long context | |
| DeepSeek | 3 | $0.22/M | $1.10/M | Budget all-around |
| Meta (Together.ai) | 4 | $0.10/M | $0.88/M | Open source, 1M context |
| Mistral | 2 | $0.15/M | $1.50/M | European compliance |
| Cohere | 2 | $0.50/M | $10/M | RAG, enterprise search |
| Moonshot | 1 | $0.90/M | $3.75/M | Long context (256K) |
| xAI | 2 | $3.00/M | $150/M | Real-time data |
| AI21 | 1 | $2.00/M | $8/M | Long context (256K) |
What to Watch in Q4 2026
- OpenAI GPT-6 — Q4 is the traditional launch window. Expect a new generation that resets the pricing curve.
- Google Gemini 3.0 Flash — Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite has held the budget crown for months; a successor could push below $0.05/M.
- DeepSeek V5 — V4 Pro at $0.66/M is aggressive; V5 could disrupt the mid-tier.
- xAI pricing rebrand — Grok 4.3 at $1.25/$2.50 is now competitive; Grok Build 0.1 at $1.00/$2.00 joins the budget tier.
- Meta Llama 5 — Llama 4 Scout (1M context) was a breakthrough; Llama 5 could push context or quality further.
- Anthropic Claude 5 — The Claude 4 family is mature; a new generation could arrive in late 2026.
💡 Cost Optimization Tip
If you're still using GPT-4o ($2.50/M) for general tasks, switching to Claude Haiku 4.5 ($1/M) saves 60% with comparable quality. For classification/extraction, GPT-4o mini ($0.15/M) is 17x cheaper than GPT-4o. Use our Cost Optimizer to find savings in your current setup.
Methodology
Pricing is compiled from primary provider pricing pages. The OpenAI and Google sections were spot-checked on August 19, 2026; other rows retain their provider-level verification state and should be confirmed before a purchasing decision. Primary references include OpenAI API Pricing, Gemini API Pricing, and DeepSeek Models and Pricing.
Prices are per 1 million tokens unless otherwise noted. Context window sizes reflect the maximum supported. Some providers offer batch pricing or committed-use discounts not reflected here.
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- Cheapest AI API Finder — find the lowest-cost option
- AI API Pricing July 2026 — previous month's guide
- State of LLM Pricing Report — interactive June report 🔌 Free MCP Server →
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