The price of a token

The median model prices output at 2.0× its input, across 2 models from 1 labs. Distance along a ray is price class; distance off it is a pricing decision, not a cost difference.

API list prices for frontier models, in USD per million tokens — standard tier, text, base context. Each number is verified against the lab’s official pricing page (date shown); the daily series is in the free API. More labs get added as they’re verified — never before.

All labs

Anthropic DeepSeek

Google Mistral

OpenAI xAI

Input vs output $/MTok · log-log · 5×/6× guides

The dashed rays are constant output÷input ratios. Distance along a ray is price class; distance off it is pricing strategy.

The ladder · every model, one scale

DeepSeek

deepseek-v4-pro
In $0.43Out $0.872.0× out÷in
blended 3:1 $0.54verified 2026-08-11
deepseek-v4-flash
In $0.14Out $0.282.0× out÷in
blended 3:1 $0.18verified 2026-08-11

Model	Input $/MTok	Output $/MTok	Out÷In	Blended 3:1	Verified
deepseek-v4-pro	$0.43	$0.87	2.0×	$0.54	2026-08-11
deepseek-v4-flash	$0.14	$0.28	2.0×	$0.18	2026-08-11

Last snapshot: 2026-09-20 06:17 UTC · List prices, not negotiated rates; cached-input, batch, and long-context tiers vary by lab and are noted where they differ. Same rule as the GPU side: a missing number beats a wrong one.