The cheapest model for every kind of task
Price alone doesn't pick a model. Compare the cheapest GPT, Claude, Gemini and DeepSeek routes per tier — then pick by context, tools and speed.
Everyday & high-volume
Big Pickle
big-pickle
$0.00 / 1M in
$0.00 / 1M out
~$0.00 per 1M in + 1M out round trip
Balanced coding + analysis
GPT-4.1 mini
gpt-4.1-mini
$0.40 / 1M in
$1.60 / 1M out
~$2.00 per 1M in + 1M out round trip
Hard reasoning & writing
o3-mini
o3-mini
$1.10 / 1M in
$4.40 / 1M out
~$5.50 per 1M in + 1M out round trip
Everyday & high-volume
cheapest-first
| Model | Provider | $ in / 1M | $ out / 1M | Context | Class | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Big Pickle big-pickle Cheapest input | OpenCode Zen | $0.00 | $0.00 | 200k | Cheap | ToolsVision |
DeepSeek V4 Flash Free deepseek-v4-flash-free | OpenCode Zen | $0.00 | $0.00 | 128k | Cheap | Tools |
MiMo V2.5 Free mimo-v2.5-free | OpenCode Zen | $0.00 | $0.00 | 128k | Cheap | Tools |
Nemotron 3 Ultra Free nemotron-3-ultra-free | OpenCode Zen | $0.00 | $0.00 | 200k | Cheap | Tools |
GPT-OSS 20B (Groq) openai/gpt-oss-20b | Groq | $0.07 | $0.30 | 131k | Cheap | Tools |
GPT-4o mini gpt-4o-mini | OpenAI | $0.15 | $0.60 | 128k | Cheap | ToolsVision |
GPT-OSS 120B (Groq) openai/gpt-oss-120b | Groq | $0.15 | $0.60 | 131k | Cheap | Tools |
DeepSeek V3 (chat) deepseek-chat | DeepSeek | $0.27 | $1.10 | 64k | Cheap | Tools |
DeepSeek V4 Flash (Zen) deepseek-v4-flash | OpenCode Zen | $0.27 | $1.10 | 128k | Cheap | Tools |
Gemini Flash gemini-flash-latest | $0.30 | $2.50 | 1.0M | Cheap | ToolsVisionReasoning | |
Grok 3 mini grok-3-mini | xAI | $0.30 | $0.50 | 131k | Cheap | ToolsReasoning |
Balanced coding + analysis
cheapest-first
| Model | Provider | $ in / 1M | $ out / 1M | Context | Class | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GPT-4.1 mini gpt-4.1-mini Cheapest input | OpenAI | $0.40 | $1.60 | 1.0M | Balanced | ToolsVision |
Kimi K2 kimi-k2 | Moonshot | $0.40 | $1.60 | 200k | Balanced | Tools |
Kimi K2 Thinking kimi-k2-thinking | Moonshot | $0.40 | $1.60 | 200k | Balanced | ToolsReasoning |
DeepSeek R1 (reasoner) deepseek-reasoner | DeepSeek | $0.55 | $2.19 | 64k | Balanced | Reasoning |
Llama 3.3 70B (Groq) llama-3.3-70b-versatile | Groq | $0.59 | $0.79 | 128k | Balanced | Tools |
Claude 3.5 Haiku claude-3-5-haiku | Anthropic | $0.80 | $4.00 | 200k | Balanced | ToolsVision |
Hard reasoning & writing
cheapest-first
| Model | Provider | $ in / 1M | $ out / 1M | Context | Class | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
o3-mini o3-mini Cheapest input | OpenAI | $1.10 | $4.40 | 200k | Flagship | ToolsReasoning |
GPT-4.1 gpt-4.1 | OpenAI | $2.00 | $8.00 | 1.0M | Flagship | ToolsVision |
Gemini 3.1 Pro gemini-3.1-pro-preview | $2.00 | $12.00 | 1.0M | Flagship | ToolsVisionReasoning | |
OpenRouter Auto openrouter/auto | OpenRouter | $2.00 | $8.00 | 200k | Flagship | ToolsVision |
GPT-4o gpt-4o | OpenAI | $2.50 | $10.00 | 128k | Flagship | ToolsVision |
Claude Sonnet 4 claude-sonnet-4 | Anthropic | $3.00 | $15.00 | 200k | Flagship | ToolsVisionReasoning |
Grok 3 grok-3 | xAI | $3.00 | $15.00 | 131k | Flagship | Tools |
Claude Opus 4 claude-opus-4 | Anthropic | $15.00 | $75.00 | 200k | Flagship | ToolsVisionReasoning |
Cheapest by provider
The most affordable entry model from each provider, in case you already standardize on one.
Which model should I pick?
- High-volume, simple tasks — reach for the cheapest tier: DeepSeek V3.2, Gemini Flash, GPT-4.1 mini or Groq-hosted open weights.
- Coding + analysis — Claude Sonnet 4 and GPT-4.1 lead at a balanced price; DeepSeek R1 is the budget reasoning pick.
- Hard reasoning or long-form writing— one of the flagship choices; Gemini 3.1 Pro & Kimi K2 Thinking win on context length.