Gemini API alternatives compared by price

The Claude API is how developers pay for Anthropic's models: per million tokens, with input and output priced separately and every model tier a fixed step apart. Since Opus 4.5 in late 2025 the top tier has dropped from $15 to $5 per million input tokens while a new tier above it, Fable 5.1, took the $10 slot.

Claude API starts at $1 per million input tokens, $5 per million output for Haiku 4.5 (USD per million tokens, standard processing), goes up to $10 per million input tokens, $50 per million output for Fable 5.1. Latest change: Sonnet tier, output from $15 to $10 (-33%), Jul 2026.

The OpenAI API is the developer side of ChatGPT's maker, priced per million tokens with cached input at a tenth of the standard input rate. Batch and Flex processing cost half, Fast mode costs double, and the flagship has been repriced with almost every model generation since GPT-3 charged per thousand tokens.

OpenAI API starts at $0.10 per million input tokens, $0.5 per million output for gpt-6-luna (USD per million tokens, standard processing), goes up to $10 per million input tokens, $50 per million output for gpt-6-astra. Latest change: Cheapest model, output from $1.20 to $0.50 (-58%), Oct 2026.

Mistral's La Plateforme prices its models far below the US labs per million tokens, and unusually its flagship Large 3 costs less than the mid tier Medium 3.5. Open weight models like Ministral sit at the bottom with the same price for input and output.

Mistral API starts at $0.15 per million input tokens, $0.6 per million output for Mistral Small 4 (USD per million tokens), goes up to $1.50 per million input tokens, $7.5 per million output for Mistral Medium 3.5.

TypeSafe AI sells Jev, a model that answers typed questions about program state with structured, calibrated decisions rather than free text, aimed at automation inside software. There are no plans or seats: usage is metered at $42 per billion input tokens and output is not charged, which the company positions against the per-token prices of general purpose language models.

TypeSafe AI starts at $0.042 per million input tokens, output tokens free for Jev (USD per million input tokens; output tokens are free).

The xAI API sells Grok models per million tokens with the same input and output split as its rivals, cached input at a discount and a doubled rate for long prompts. Its flagship sits between OpenAI's mid and top tiers on price.

xAI API starts at $1 per million input tokens, $2 per million output for grok-build-0.1 (USD per million tokens, prompts under 200K tokens), goes up to $2 per million input tokens, $6 per million output for grok-4.6.

Perplexity's Sonar API is a web-grounded answer engine for developers. Token prices look like everyone else's, but each request also carries a fee that depends on how much web context is pulled in, which makes it a hybrid of per token and per call pricing.

Perplexity Sonar API starts at $1 per million input tokens, $1 per million output, plus $5 to $12 per 1,000 requests for Sonar (USD per million tokens, before per request fees), goes up to $3 per million input tokens, $15 per million output, plus $6 to $14 per 1,000 requests for Sonar Pro.

Amazon Bedrock is where AWS customers buy Claude, Amazon Nova and other models without a separate vendor contract. Claude's top tier on Bedrock went from $8 and $24 per million tokens for Claude 2.1 to $15 and $75 for Opus 4, and now tracks Anthropic's own API exactly at $10 and $50 for Fable 5.1.

Amazon Bedrock starts at $0.30 per million input tokens, $2.5 per million output for Amazon Nova 2 Lite (USD per million tokens, on-demand in US East (N. Virginia), global cross-region rate where offered), goes up to $10 per million input tokens, $50 per million output, global for Claude Fable 5.1. Latest change: Claude flagship, output from $25 to $50 (+100%), Sep 2026.

Vertex AI is the Google Cloud route to Gemini, priced the same as Google's developer API but billed through a Cloud account. Gemini Pro went from $1.25 to $2 per million input tokens with Gemini 3, and the Flash tier has climbed from $0.15 to $0.75.

Vertex AI starts at $0.75 per million input tokens, $3.75 per million output, introductory until 2027 for Gemini 3.8 Flash (USD per million tokens, standard tier, prompts up to 200K tokens, global endpoint), goes up to $2 per million input tokens, $12 per million output for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview. Latest change: Gemini Flash tier, output from $3 to $3.75 (+25%), Oct 2026.

Azure OpenAI is how Microsoft customers buy GPT models, with global prices that have tracked OpenAI's own API since 2024. The flagship fell from $30 per million input tokens for GPT-4 to $1.25 for GPT-5 and has climbed back to $10 with GPT-6 Astra.

Azure OpenAI starts at $0.10 per million input tokens, $0.5 per million output, global for GPT-6 Luna (USD per million tokens, standard global deployment (regional and Data Zone before global existed)), goes up to $10 per million input tokens, $50 per million output, global for GPT-6 Astra. Latest change: Cheapest model, output from $1.20 to $0.50 (-58%), Sep 2026.

DeepSeek sells open-weight-lineage models through a plain per-token API at some of the lowest rates in the category. Peak input starts at $0.30 per million tokens and halves off peak.

DeepSeek API starts at $0.30 per million input tokens at peak, $1.20 per million output, half price off peak for deepseek-flash (USD per million tokens, peak rate, cache miss), goes up to $1.32 per million input tokens at peak, $3.96 per million output, half price off peak for deepseek-v4-pro.