Budget Models Head-to-Head
The cheapest AI models ranked by input price.
| Model | Provider | Tier | Input (per 1M) | Output (per 1M) | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | Budget | $0.10 | $0.40 | 1M | |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | Anthropic | Budget | $1.00 | $5.00 | 200K |
Calculate Your Exact Costs
See how much you'd save switching from Haiku 4.5 to Gemini Flash.
Which Should You Choose?
High-Volume Chatbot
Thousands of messages per day. Cost per message matters most. Output-heavy.
RAG Pipeline
Large input contexts, short responses. Classification, extraction, tagging.
Code Generation
Mixed input/output. Longer outputs for code. Both handle most coding tasks.
Complex Reasoning
Multi-step logic, nuanced analysis, creative writing. Quality matters most.
Content Generation
Long outputs, summarization, writing. Output tokens dominate cost.
Claude 4 Migration
Switching from Claude 4 Opus ($15/$75) or Sonnet 4 ($3/$15) after retirement.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 4.5 or Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite?
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is dramatically cheaper. At $0.10/$0.40 per 1M tokens, it's 90% cheaper on input and 92% cheaper on output than Claude Haiku 4.5 at $1.00/$5.00. Gemini also offers 5x more context (1M vs 200K).
Is Claude Haiku 4.5 better quality than Gemini Flash?
Claude Haiku 4.5 generally produces higher quality output for complex reasoning, coding, and nuanced tasks. However, Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite is very capable for most common tasks. The 10x price difference means Gemini is often the better choice for high-volume workloads.
Can I use Gemini Flash as a Claude Haiku replacement?
Yes, for most workloads. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.10/$0.40 is a fraction of Haiku 4.5's $1.00/$5.00. Gemini also has 1M context (vs 200K), making it better for long documents. Test thoroughly before migrating if you rely on Claude-specific features.
What's the cheapest Claude Haiku 4.5 alternative?
GPT-oss 20B at $0.08/$0.35 is the cheapest. Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite at $0.10/$0.40 offers better quality. DeepSeek V4 Flash at $0.14/$0.28 is another excellent option with 1M context. All three are 90%+ cheaper than Haiku 4.5.
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