Cheapest LLM API 2026

Looking to save money on AI API costs? This guide covers the cheapest LLM API options in 2026, with real pricing and use cases.

Quick Answer: Which is Cheapest?

Provider	Model	Input/M	Output/M	Verdict
Google	Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite	$0.10	$0.40	Cheapest overall
DeepSeek	V3	$0.14	$0.28	Best value
Mistral	Codestral	$0.24	$0.24	Good for coding
Google	Gemini 2.0 Flash	$0.40	$1.60	Free tier available

DeepSeek: The Value Leader

DeepSeek V3 has disrupted the LLM pricing landscape:

• Input: $0.14 per million tokens
• Output: $0.28 per million tokens
• Context: 64K
• Strengths: Surprisingly capable for the price, open weights available

At $0.14/M input, DeepSeek is 10x cheaper than GPT-4.5 for basic tasks.

Gemini Flash-Lite: Cheapest Overall

Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite wins on pure price:

• Input: $0.10 per million tokens
• Output: $0.40 per million tokens
• Context: 1M tokens
• Free tier: 1,000 requests/day

For high-volume, simple tasks, Gemini Flash-Lite is unbeatable.

When to Use Each

Use Case	Recommended	Why
High volume simple tasks	Gemini Flash-Lite	Cheapest, generous free tier
Best quality/value	DeepSeek V3	10x cheaper than OpenAI
Coding tasks	Mistral Codestral	Optimized for code
Complex reasoning	GPT-5 Mini	Better quality, still affordable

Cost Comparison Examples

1M API Calls (Simple)

Provider	Cost
GPT-5 Pro	$168
Claude Opus	$25
Gemini Flash-Lite	$0.10
DeepSeek V3	$0.14

10K Tokens/Request (1M total)

Provider	Cost
GPT-5 Pro	$210
Claude Opus	$30
Gemini Flash-Lite	$1
DeepSeek V3	$1.40

How to Switch

Most providers are API-compatible with OpenAI:

# DeepSeek
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
    api_key="your-deepseek-key",
    base_url="https://api.deepseek.com"
)

# Gemini (via Google AI Studio)
import google.generativeai as genai
genai.configure(api_key="your-key")

More Resources

• LLM API Pricing 2026 — Full comparison
• Best AI Coding Tools — Tools with free tiers

Last updated: February 2026