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Updated October 2026

Cheapest AI models in 2026

The cheapest AI models for everyday chat, ranked by price per million tokens. See input and output prices side by side, plus the cheapest models that still deliver good quality.

  1. #2anthropic logo

    Anthropic

    Claude Haiku 5.5

    $0.20

    Blended price per 1M tokens

  2. Top pickxiaomi logo

    Xiaomi

    MiMo-V2.6-Flash

    $0.18

    Blended price per 1M tokens

  3. #3openai logo

    OpenAI

    GPT-6 Luna

    $0.20

    Blended price per 1M tokens

Ranking

Best value: cheapest good models

All models

Ranked by blended price per 1M tokens, weighting input 3 to 1 over output to reflect typical chat. Only models scoring 30 or higher on the intelligence index are included, so the cheapest picks here are still good enough to use.

  1. 1xiaomi logoMiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi · $0.14 in / $0.28 out · 1.05M context$0.18
  2. 2anthropic logoClaude Haiku 5.5Anthropic · $0.10 in / $0.50 out · 1M context$0.20
  3. 3openai logoGPT-6 LunaOpenAI · $0.10 in / $0.50 out · 1.05M context$0.20
  4. 4z-ai logoGLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai · $0.15 in / $0.50 out · 1.05M context$0.24
  5. 5deepseek logoDeepSeek V4 Pro 0423DeepSeek · $0.21 in / $0.42 out · 1.05M context$0.26
  6. 6deepseek logoDeepSeek V4 Flash Vision ExpDeepSeek · $0.22 in / $0.65 out · 1.05M context$0.32
  7. 7deepseek logoDeepSeek V4 Flash 0731DeepSeek · $0.00 in / $1.28 out · 1.05M context$0.32
  8. 8openai logoGPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI · $0.20 in / $1.20 out · 1.05M context$0.45
  9. 9deepseek logoDeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek · $0.30 in / $1.20 out · 1.05M context$0.52
  10. 10xiaomi logoMiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi · $0.44 in / $0.87 out · 1.05M context$0.54
  11. 11qwen logoQwen3.8 27BQwen · $0.43 in / $2.55 out · 1M context$0.96
  12. 12deepseek logoDeepSeek V4 Pro 0813DeepSeek · $0.66 in / $1.98 out · 1.05M context$0.99
  13. 13google logoGemini 3.8 FlashGoogle · $0.75 in / $3.75 out · 1.05M context$1.50
  14. 14google logoGemini 3.7 FlashGoogle · $0.75 in / $3.75 out · 1.05M context$1.50
  15. 15google logoGemini 3.6 FlashGoogle · $0.75 in / $3.75 out · 1.05M context$1.50
  16. 16z-ai logoGLM 5.3Z.ai · $0.04 in / $7 out · 1.05M context$1.78
  17. 17meta logoMuse Spark 1.3Meta · $1.25 in / $4.25 out · 1.05M context$2
  18. 18meta logoMuse Spark 1.2Meta · $1.25 in / $4.25 out · 1.05M context$2
  19. 19meta logoMuse Spark 1.1Meta · $1.25 in / $4.25 out · 1.05M context$2
  20. 20z-ai logoGLM 5.2Z.ai · $0.06 in / $8 out · 1.05M context$2.05

No quality filter

Absolute cheapest, any quality

Every model ranked purely by price, including basic ones that score below 30 on the intelligence index. Fine for simple, high-volume jobs like tagging or sorting. Check the quality column before you commit.

  1. 1mistralai logoMistral NemoMistral · $0.03 in / $0.03 out · 131K context · Quality: Unrated$0.03
  2. 2inclusionai logoLing 3.0 Flash VLinclusionAI · $0.02 in / $0.06 out · 262K context · Quality: Basic$0.03
  3. 3inclusionai logoLing 3.0 FlashinclusionAI · $0.02 in / $0.06 out · 262K context · Quality: Basic$0.03
  4. 4openai logogpt-oss-20bOpenAI · $0.02 in / $0.09 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.04
  5. 5ibm-granite logoGranite 4.0 MicroIBM · $0.02 in / $0.11 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.04
  6. 6qwen logoQwen3.7 FlashQwen · $0.03 in / $0.13 out · 1M context · Quality: Unrated$0.06
  7. 7meta-llama logoLlama 3.1 8B InstructMeta · $0.05 in / $0.08 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.06
  8. 8mistralai logoMistral Small 3Mistral · $0.05 in / $0.08 out · 33K context · Quality: Basic$0.06
  9. 9amazon logoNova Micro 1.0Amazon · $0.04 in / $0.14 out · 128K context · Quality: Basic$0.06
  10. 10inclusionai logoLing 3.0 Flash FininclusionAI · $0.04 in / $0.12 out · 262K context · Quality: Basic$0.06
  11. 11google logoGemma 3 4BGoogle · $0.05 in / $0.10 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.06
  12. 12inception logoMercury 2.5Inception · $0.04 in / $0.15 out · 260K context · Quality: Basic$0.07
  13. 13nvidia logoNemotron 3.5 LightningNVIDIA · $0.05 in / $0.13 out · 262K context · Quality: Basic$0.07
  14. 14openai logogpt-oss-120bOpenAI · $0.04 in / $0.17 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.07
  15. 15meta-llama logoLlama 3.2 1B InstructMeta · $0.03 in / $0.20 out · 60K context · Quality: Basic$0.07
  16. 16google logoGemma 3 12BGoogle · $0.05 in / $0.15 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.08
  17. 17upstage logoSolar Mini 4Upstage · $0.05 in / $0.20 out · 524K context · Quality: Basic$0.09
  18. 18microsoft logoPhi 4Microsoft · $0.07 in / $0.14 out · 16K context · Quality: Basic$0.09
  19. 19mistralai logoMinistral 3 3B 2512Mistral · $0.10 in / $0.10 out · 131K context · Quality: Basic$0.10
  20. 20nvidia logoNemotron 3 Nano 30B A3BNVIDIA · $0.06 in / $0.24 out · 262K context · Quality: Basic$0.11

Head to head

How the top models compare

All comparisons

Detailed comparisons between the models on this list.

deepseek logoVSz-ai logo

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs GLM 5.3 Flash

DeepSeek vs Z.ai

See comparison
xiaomi logoVSdeepseek logo

MiMo-V2.6-Flash vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

Xiaomi vs DeepSeek

See comparison
xiaomi logoVSz-ai logo

MiMo-V2.6-Flash vs GLM 5.3 Flash

Xiaomi vs Z.ai

See comparison
openai logoVSdeepseek logo

GPT-6 Luna vs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

OpenAI vs DeepSeek

See comparison
openai logoVSz-ai logo

GPT-6 Luna vs GLM 5.3 Flash

OpenAI vs Z.ai

See comparison
deepseek logoVSdeepseek logo

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash vs DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731

DeepSeek vs DeepSeek

See comparison

More rankings

Best models for other jobs

All rankings

The leader changes with the job. See how these same models rank for something else.

Smartest AI models

The models with the highest general intelligence scores, covering reasoning, math, science, and knowledge.

  1. 1anthropic logoClaude Opus 5.557.6
  2. 2anthropic logoClaude Sonnet 5.556
  3. 3anthropic logoClaude Fable 5.153.4
See full ranking

Best AI models for coding

The strongest models for writing, refactoring, and debugging code, ranked by independent coding benchmarks.

  1. 1anthropic logoClaude Fable 5.181.6
  2. 2anthropic logoClaude Opus 578
  3. 3openai logoGPT-5.6 Sol77.4
See full ranking

Best long-context AI models

Models that can read entire codebases, books, or long document sets in a single prompt.

  1. 1x-ai logoGrok 4.202M tokens
  2. 2meta-llama logoLlama 4 Scout1.31M tokens
  3. 3openai logoGPT-6 Astra1.05M tokens
See full ranking

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest AI model?

MiMo-V2.6-Flash from Xiaomi ranks first with blended price per 1M tokens of $0.18. Claude Haiku 5.5 is second at $0.20.

How are these models ranked?

Ranked by blended price per 1M tokens, weighting input 3 to 1 over output to reflect typical chat.

Can I use more than one of these models?

Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to several models at once, so you can run the top models on this list side by side and keep the best answer.

xiaomi logoanthropic logoopenai logoz-ai logodeepseek logo

Use the top models together.

Send one prompt to multiple models on this list at once, see the answers side by side, and take the best part from each.

Get startedSee a preview