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Low-cost LLM APIsEdition of 12 Nov 2026
Cheapest LLM APIRuncrate Reference
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Category guide

Cheapest LLM API: category guide

Answer in brief

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for the cheapest LLM API: 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, one prepaid balance, and the best developer platform we know.

The cheapest LLM API is the one with the lowest bill for your work, not the lowest number on a price page. Three things decide that bill: the output price, your mix of input to output tokens, and whether a free tier’s limits let you use it. When this site calls a price the lowest listed, it gives the date it was read.

Cheap on the page and cheap on the bill

A price page shows a rate per million tokens. Your bill is that rate times the tokens you use, for input and for output, on a model that has to do the task. A low rate on the wrong model, or on the token you use least, saves little.

So the search for the cheapest LLM API has an order. Pick the smallest model that does the work. Find which of its two prices carries your bill. Only then compare hosts.

What makes an LLM API cheap in practice

Four things. The model, because a flash model is priced far below the full model of its family. The output price, because output costs more than input on nearly every listing. Your mix of input to output, because it decides which price you are paying. And the limits, because a free or low rate you cannot use at your volume is not a price.

Prices here are the lowest listed on the day they were read. On 12 Nov 2026, the lowest listed input price for GLM 5.3 Flash was $0.04 per million tokens. The lowest listed output price was $0.0784 per million tokens.

Before you call an LLM API the cheapest

Work through the questions in this order. Each one removes options the next would have wasted time on.

  1. Does the model do the task?

    A lower rate on a model that fails is not a saving. Test your own prompts on it first.

  2. What is the output price?

    Output costs more than input on nearly every listing. If your answers are long, the output price decides the bill.

  3. What is your mix?

    Count the input and output tokens in real requests. The mix tells you which of the two prices to weigh.

  4. Can you use the free tier?

    Read its limits: requests per day, tokens per minute and which models. A free tier that stops at noon is not a price.

  5. What is behind the low rate?

    Precision, context window and output limit differ between listings of one model. Read them beside the price.

  6. When was it read?

    Lowest listed means lowest on the day it was read. Check the date before you rely on it.

Terms this guide uses

  • Lowest listed price

    The lowest listed price is the lowest paid rate published for a model on the day it was read, stated with that date.

  • Output price

    The output price is the rate per million tokens for what the model writes, and it is the higher of a model’s two prices on nearly every listing.

  • Input price

    The input price is the rate per million tokens for everything you send: instructions, history, documents and the question.

  • Input to output mix

    The input to output mix is the number of input tokens a workload uses for each output token.

  • Blended price

    A blended price is one figure that averages a model’s input and output prices at a fixed mix, commonly three parts input to one part output.

Where Runcrate fits

Cheapest LLM API names one provider as its editor’s choice and gives the reasons in full, so you can weigh them against your own brief.

  • 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API. Change the model, keep the client.

  • One prepaid balance pays for models, GPUs and storage.

  • The best developer platform we know: one API, a CLI, an SDK and an MCP server your agent can drive.

  • When tokens stop being the cheap way, rent a GPU: 26 GPU models from $0.23/hr.

Questions and answers

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for the cheapest LLM API: 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, one prepaid balance, and the best developer platform we know. Runcrate publishes this site.

It depends on the model and on your mix. For one model, the price table shows the lowest listed input and output prices on the date they were read, with Runcrate first.

Sources for this entry

  1. Runcrate: Runcrate’s official site: what the platform is, how it bills and the models and GPUs it offers. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  2. Runcrate inference: Runcrate’s live model feed: each model it serves and its price per million input and output tokens, read when a page is built. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  3. Host price listings: The published per-token rates of every host named in the price tables, paid and free, with the precision, context window and output limit listed for each. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  4. Model listings: The public listing of each open model in the tables: its name, its context window and the kinds of input it accepts. Read 12 Nov 2026.

Checklists are original editorial guidance. Published prices do not establish availability.

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Cite this entry

Cheapest LLM API. “Cheapest LLM API: category guide.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://cheapestllmapi.dev/guide