AI token prices
Is AI getting cheaper to use?
Contributes to: Can AI do the work?. Signal score: 47 / 100. Relative weight within this question: 1.
StatusGetting cheaper
Latest value$2.00
Year over year-27%
Distance from high-88%
Observed trend
Median listed price in dollars per 1M tokens, per month, with 3 input tokens per output token.
Median listed price in dollars per 1M tokens, per month, with 3 input tokens per output token. · 2023-10 – 2026-11
View data table
| Period / observation | Median listed price in dollars per 1M tokens, per month, with 3 input tokens per output token. |
|---|---|
| 2023-10 | 16.44 |
| 2023-11 | 16.44 |
| 2023-12 | 12 |
| 2024-01 | 4.1 |
| 2024-02 | 12 |
| 2024-03 | 4.1 |
| 2024-04 | 4.05 |
| 2024-05 | 4.05 |
| 2024-06 | 3.25 |
| 2024-07 | 3.75 |
| 2024-08 | 3 |
| 2024-09 | 3.25 |
| 2024-10 | 3.75 |
| 2024-11 | 3.25 |
| 2024-12 | 3.25 |
| 2025-01 | 3.75 |
| 2025-02 | 3.25 |
| 2025-03 | 3.75 |
| 2025-04 | 3.25 |
| 2025-05 | 3.25 |
| 2025-06 | 3 |
| 2025-07 | 3 |
| 2025-08 | 3 |
| 2025-09 | 3 |
| 2025-10 | 2.89 |
| 2025-11 | 2.75 |
| 2025-12 | 2.75 |
| 2026-01 | 2.75 |
| 2026-02 | 2.75 |
| 2026-03 | 2.75 |
| 2026-04 | 1.93 |
| 2026-05 | 2 |
| 2026-06 | 2 |
| 2026-07 | 2 |
| 2026-08 | 2.75 |
| 2026-09 | 1.56 |
| 2026-10 | 1.93 |
| 2026-11 | 2 |
What it measures
- Metric
- Median listed price per 1M tokens across AI models from their makers, with 3 input tokens per output token
- Solved if
- Using AI becomes close to free
- Signal score
- 47 / 100. Down 88% since October 2023, when the data starts. How it is scored
- Status rule
- Getting cheaper when the median listed price is lower than a year before.
Are prices falling per model?
Mostly not. The median falls because newer, cheaper models arrive, not because existing models get repriced.
- Of 79 models listed both in 2025-11 and 2026-11, 71 kept their price, 4 got cheaper and 4 got more expensive.
- Cheaper tokens do not always mean cheaper work, because a task can use more tokens on a newer model.
- On the FrontierSWE benchmark, a hard task costs from about $99 of AI usage for a near-top score to about $1,030 for the top score.
- Everyday use can cost far less. OpenCode reports an average of about 5 cents per session on DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, the most used model on its platform (OpenCode Data, opencode.ai/data, updated Nov 1, 2026, 10:18 AM UTC).
Update history
The reading on each date we checked, separate from the historical observations above.
| Date | Value | Year over year | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-11-02 | $2.00 | -27% | Getting cheaper |
| 2026-11-01 | $2.00 | -27% | Getting cheaper |
Sources
| Source | Role | Measures | Latest data |
|---|---|---|---|
| LiteLLM model prices | Scored measurement | Listed prices for AI models over time | 2026-11 |
| OpenCode Data | Supporting context | Average AI usage cost per session, quoted by hand | Nov 1, 2026 |