Cheapest LLM API (2026)
50 models ranked by lowest price across 70+ providers · Updated daily
Prices updated:
As of : Real-time ranking of the cheapest LLM APIs, sourced from ComputeUnion's automated daily scrapes across 70+ providers. Prices are per 1M input tokens. Relay stations typically cost 20–80% less than official providers but route through a third party.
| # | Model | Cheapest Provider | Price / 1M input tokens | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GLM-4.5 Flash | LaoZhang APIrelay | $0.001379 | $0.005517 |
| 2 | Embed: BGE | LingYa APIrelay | $0.002759 | $0.011034 |
| 3 | Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite | TreeRouterrelay | $0.004138 | $0.016552 |
| 4 | Doubao | RunAPIrelay | $0.004524 | $0.004524 |
| 5 | Gemini 2.5 Flash | TreeRouterrelay | $0.006207 | $0.144869 |
| 6 | deepseek-ocr | TreeRouterrelay | $0.008938 | $0.008938 |
| 7 | DeepSeek V3.2 | TreeRouterrelay | $0.011586 | $0.017379 |
| 8 | ByteDance Seed | LaoZhang APIrelay | $0.013793 | $0.055172 |
| 9 | Gemini Flash | UiUiAPIrelay | $0.013793 | $0.055172 |
| 10 | codegeex-4 | 302.AIrelay | $0.014000 | $0.014000 |
| 11 | GLM-4 Flash | 302.AIrelay | $0.014000 | $0.014000 |
| 12 | Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | RunAPIrelay | $0.014897 | $0.089379 |
| 13 | DeepSeek V4 Flash | RunAPIrelay | $0.015764 | $0.031527 |
| 14 | Command R | UiUiAPIrelay | $0.020690 | $0.082759 |
| 15 | Gemini 3 | TreeRouterrelay | $0.020690 | $0.062069 |
| 16 | DeepSeek V3 | RunAPIrelay | $0.022400 | $0.033600 |
| 17 | DeepSeek R1 | TreeRouterrelay | $0.022759 | $0.090621 |
| 18 | DeepSeek V3.1 | TreeRouterrelay | $0.023172 | $0.069517 |
| 19 | GLM-4.7 | TreeRouterrelay | $0.024828 | $0.091034 |
| 20 | GLM-4 Long | ProAI APIrelay | $0.024828 | $0.099310 |
| 21 | Claude Haiku 4.5 | dddAIrelay | $0.027586 | $0.137931 |
| 22 | ERNIE Lite Pro | Baidu Qianfan | $0.027586 | $0.055172 |
| 23 | GLM-4 | ProAI APIrelay | $0.027586 | $0.165517 |
| 24 | GLM-4.5 Air | LaoZhang APIrelay | $0.027586 | $0.137931 |
| 25 | DeepSeek-OCR | Novita AIrelay | $0.030000 | $0.030000 |
| 26 | DeepSeek-OCR 2 | Novita AIrelay | $0.030000 | $0.030000 |
| 27 | deepseek/deepseek-ocr-2 | 302.AIrelay | $0.031000 | $0.031000 |
| 28 | Claude 3.5 Haiku | TreeRouterrelay | $0.033103 | $0.165517 |
| 29 | Claude 3 Haiku | UiUiAPIrelay | $0.034483 | $0.172414 |
| 30 | Amazon Nova | OpenRouterrelay | $0.035000 | $0.140000 |
| 31 | AutoGLM-Phone-9B-Multilingual | Novita AIrelay | $0.035000 | $0.138000 |
| 32 | DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 32B | UiUiAPIrelay | $0.037241 | $0.037241 |
| 33 | Command R7B | OpenRouterrelay | $0.037500 | $0.150000 |
| 34 | GLM-4.6V | LaoZhang APIrelay | $0.038621 | $0.115862 |
| 35 | Codestral | EasyRouterrelay | $0.041379 | $0.124138 |
| 36 | ERNIE | ProAI APIrelay | $0.041379 | $0.041379 |
| 37 | ERNIE Speed Pro | Baidu Qianfan | $0.041379 | $0.082759 |
| 38 | GLM-4 Air | UiUiAPIrelay | $0.041379 | $0.001469 |
| 39 | GLM-5 | EasyRouterrelay | $0.041379 | $0.165517 |
| 40 | GLM-4.5 | RunAPIrelay | $0.047290 | $0.189162 |
| 41 | GLM-4.6 | RunAPIrelay | $0.047290 | $0.189162 |
| 42 | Gemma 3 12B | OpenRouterrelay | $0.050000 | $0.150000 |
| 43 | Gemma 3 4B | OpenRouterrelay | $0.050000 | $0.100000 |
| 44 | Gemini 2.5 Pro | TreeRouterrelay | $0.051724 | $0.413793 |
| 45 | DeepSeek V4 Pro | EasyRouterrelay | $0.060000 | $0.120000 |
| 46 | Gemma 4 27B | OpenRouterrelay | $0.060000 | $0.330000 |
| 47 | GLM-4.7 Flash | OpenRouterrelay | $0.060000 | $0.400000 |
| 48 | Gemini 3.5 Flash | TreeRouterrelay | $0.062069 | $0.372414 |
| 49 | DeepSeek R1 Distill Qwen 7B | PoloAPIrelay | $0.068966 | $0.137931 |
| 50 | GLM-4.5V | LaoZhang APIrelay | $0.068966 | $0.206897 |
FAQ
What is the cheapest LLM API right now?
The lowest current price is GLM-4.5 Flash from LaoZhang API at $0.001379 / 1M input tokens. Prices update daily.
Why do LLM API prices vary so much?
Price differences come from: 1) relay stations typically offer 20–80% discounts vs official providers; 2) capability differences between models; 3) some platforms have volume tiers. Choose based on your actual quality requirements and budget.
How reliable is this pricing data?
Live-scraped prices come directly from provider APIs and update daily at 09:00 UTC. For large purchases, always verify the final price on the provider's official site.