OpenAI API Pricing 2026
Complete pricing guide with plans, hidden costs, and cost analysis
OpenAI API pricing ranges from $0.02 to $270/per million tokens.
OpenAI API costs $0.02 to $270 per per million tokens as of April 2026, with 3 plans available. Pricing depends on your chosen tier, contract length, and negotiated discounts.
Use the interactive pricing calculator to estimate your exact cost based on team size and requirements.
- Free tier: No free tier available
OpenAI API offers 3 pricing tiers: GPT-5.4 mini / nano (Economy), GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4 Pro (Flagship), Enterprise. The GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4 Pro (Flagship) plan is high-capability tasks requiring best performance.
Compared to other llm api providers software, OpenAI API is positioned at the mid-market price point.
- 3 documented hidden costs beyond list price
How much does OpenAI API cost?
OpenAI API Pricing Overview
OpenAI API has 3 pricing plans ranging from $0.02 to $270/per million tokens. The GPT-5.4 mini / nano (Economy) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for high-volume, cost-sensitive api workloads. The GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4 Pro (Flagship) plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for high-capability tasks requiring best performance. The Enterprise plan requires contacting sales for a custom quote and is designed for large-scale enterprise api deployments.
There are at least 3 documented hidden costs beyond OpenAI API's list price, including implementation, training, and add-on fees.
This pricing was last verified in April 15, 2026 from 2 independent sources.
OpenAI API pricing starts at $0.10 per million input tokens (GPT-4.1 nano) up to $60 per million output tokens (o1) as of April 2026. All pricing is usage-based with no monthly subscription. GPT-4.1 (flagship) is $2.00/$8.00 per million tokens; o3 (reasoning) is $10.00/$40.00 per million tokens. Prompt caching automatically reduces cached input costs by 50%, and the Batch API cuts all rates in half for async workloads.
All OpenAI API Plans & Pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.4 mini / nano (Economy) | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | High-volume, cost-sensitive API workloads |
| GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4 Pro (Flagship) | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | High-capability tasks requiring best performance |
| Enterprise | Contact Sales | Contact Sales | Large-scale enterprise API deployments |
View all features by plan
GPT-5.4 mini / nano (Economy)
- GPT-5.4 nano: $0.20 input / $1.25 output per M tokens
- GPT-5.4 mini: $0.75 input / $4.50 output per M tokens
- Prompt caching: 90% discount on cached input tokens
- Great for high-volume, cost-sensitive workloads
- Batch API available at reduced rates
GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4 Pro (Flagship)
- GPT-5.4: $2.50 input / $15.00 output per M tokens
- GPT-5.4 Pro: $30.00 input / $180.00 output per M tokens
- Long context pricing: GPT-5.4 $5.00/$22.50, Pro $60.00/$270.00
- Cached input tokens at 90% discount (GPT-5.4 only)
- Latest flagship models with best performance
Enterprise
- Volume discounts on API usage
- Dedicated support and SLAs
- Custom rate limits and higher concurrency
- Data processing agreements (DPA)
Usage-Based Rates
Per-unit pricing for OpenAI API API usage.
GPT-5.4 mini / nano (Economy)
| Model | Unit | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.4 nano | 1M input tokens | $0.2 |
| GPT-5.4 nano | 1M output tokens | $1.25 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1M input tokens | $0.75 |
| GPT-5.4 mini | 1M output tokens | $4.5 |
| GPT-5.4 nano (cached) | 1M cached input tokens | $0.02 |
| GPT-5.4 mini (cached) | 1M cached input tokens | $0.075 |
- Prompt caching: 90% discount on cached input tokens
- Batch API available at reduced rates
GPT-5.4 / GPT-5.4 Pro (Flagship)
| Model | Unit | Rate |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.4 | 1M input tokens | $2.5 |
| GPT-5.4 | 1M output tokens | $15 |
| GPT-5.4 (cached) | 1M cached input tokens | $0.25 |
| GPT-5.4 (long context) | 1M input tokens | $5 |
| GPT-5.4 (long context) | 1M output tokens | $22.5 |
| GPT-5.4 (long context cached) | 1M cached input tokens | $0.5 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro | 1M input tokens | $30 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro | 1M output tokens | $180 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro (long context) | 1M input tokens | $60 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro (long context) | 1M output tokens | $270 |
- Prompt caching: 90% discount on cached input (GPT-5.4 only, not available on Pro)
- Long context pricing applies to extended context windows
- Batch API available at reduced rates
- 10% regional processing uplift for data residency endpoints
OpenAI API Year 1 Total Cost by Company Size
Real deployment costs including licenses, implementation, training, and admin — not just the sticker price.
50M input + 10M output tokens/month using GPT-4.1 nano
5M input + 2M output tokens/month using GPT-4.1
500K input + 200K output tokens/month using o3
How OpenAI API Pricing Compares
| Software | Starting Price | Top Price |
|---|---|---|
| OpenAI API | $0.02/per million tokens | $270/per million tokens |
| Groq | Free | $3/per million tokens |
| Together AI | $0.03/per million tokens / hour | $9.95/per million tokens / hour |
| Fireworks AI | Free | $9/per million tokens / hour |
| Google Gemini API | Free | $18/per million tokens |
| Mistral AI API | $0.1/per million tokens | $6/per million tokens |
OpenAI API Pricing FAQ
01 How much does the OpenAI API cost?
OpenAI API pricing varies by model. GPT-4.1 nano is $0.10/$0.40 per million tokens (input/output). GPT-4.1 is $2.00/$8.00 per million tokens. The reasoning model o3 is $10.00/$40.00 per million tokens.
02 What is the cheapest OpenAI API model?
GPT-4.1 nano is the most affordable at $0.10 per million input tokens and $0.40 per million output tokens. With prompt caching, cached input drops to $0.025/M tokens.
03 How does OpenAI Batch API work?
The Batch API processes requests asynchronously (within 24 hours) and offers 50% off all model rates. For high-volume workloads without real-time requirements, this halves your API costs.
04 What is prompt caching on OpenAI API?
OpenAI automatically caches repeated input prefixes and charges 50% of the standard input rate for cache hits (vs Anthropic's 10%). Caching is applied automatically for long, repeated contexts.
05 How much does 1 million GPT-4.1 tokens cost?
1M input tokens: $2.00. 1M output tokens: $8.00. With prompt caching on repeated inputs: $1.00/M for cached tokens. Batch API halves all rates: $1.00 input / $4.00 output.
Is this pricing incorrect? — we'll verify and update it.