OpenAI API Pricing Calculator 2026
Estimate your total cost including hidden fees
The OpenAI API calculator estimates the cost of your selected plan. Change the team size where pricing is per person, choose an available billing period, and add reported extras that apply to your contract.
Enter your requirements below to see the recurring cost and first-year total. Unverified extras are excluded.
- Plans: 2 tiers; $0.10–$180/per million tokens
- Unpredictable Token Consumption: 20-50% of license costs
- Reasoning Model Cost Cliff: 50-200% of license costs
- Image Generation Add-On Costs: $0.02-$0.19 per image generated
Reported extras may depend on your usage and contract. Confirm the final quote with OpenAI API.
OpenAI API pricing ranges from $0.10 to $180 per per million tokens as of October 2026. OpenAI API offers 2 pricing tiers. Reported extras are shown below. Only costs with a clear amount and billing basis can be added to the estimate. Pricing verified from 4 sources by CostBench.
Estimate Your Monthly Cost
Enter your expected monthly usage:
GPT-6 Luna / GPT-5.4 mini & nano (Economy)
- Standard-tier prices per 1M tokens, verified 2026-10-10 against OpenAI's API pricing page (https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing).
- Short-context rates apply up to 272K input tokens; long-context rows show the higher rates OpenAI lists above that.
- Batch and Flex processing are 50% of standard rates; Fast mode (formerly Priority processing, renamed July 30, 2026) is 2x; Ultrafast is 6x.
- Cache writes are billed separately on GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 models (e.g. $2.50 per 1M tokens on GPT-6.1 Sol); not shown as a rate row.
- GPT-5.6 Sol's $4/$20 rate is promotional, available at least through November 21, 2026.
- Regional processing (data residency) and FedRAMP endpoints carry a 10% uplift for models released on or after March 5, 2026.
- Pro models do not list cached-input pricing.
GPT-6 / GPT-6.1 / GPT-5.6 / GPT-5.5 / Pro (Flagship)
- Standard-tier prices per 1M tokens, verified 2026-10-10 against OpenAI's API pricing page (https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing).
- Short-context rates apply up to 272K input tokens; long-context rows show the higher rates OpenAI lists above that.
- Batch and Flex processing are 50% of standard rates; Fast mode (formerly Priority processing, renamed July 30, 2026) is 2x; Ultrafast is 6x.
- Cache writes are billed separately on GPT-6 and GPT-5.6 models (e.g. $2.50 per 1M tokens on GPT-6.1 Sol); not shown as a rate row.
- GPT-5.6 Sol's $4/$20 rate is promotional, available at least through November 21, 2026.
- Regional processing (data residency) and FedRAMP endpoints carry a 10% uplift for models released on or after March 5, 2026.
- Pro models do not list cached-input pricing.
Real-World OpenAI API Cost Examples
High-Volume Classification (GPT-6 Luna)
$10$10.00/month
50M input + 10M output tokens/month on GPT-6 Luna ($0.10/$0.50 per M): $5.00 + $5.00
Production App (GPT-6.1 Sol)
$30$30.00/month
5M input + 2M output tokens/month on GPT-6.1 Sol ($2/$10 per M): $10.00 + $20.00
Frontier Tasks (GPT-6 Astra)
$15$15.00/month
500K input + 200K output tokens/month on GPT-6 Astra ($10/$50 per M): $5.00 + $10.00
Image Generation — High Volume (1,000 images/month)
$20$20–$190/month for 1,000 images ($0.02 low quality, $0.07 medium quality, $0.19 high quality per square image)
Using gpt-image-1 via the OpenAI API to generate images at scale. Cost varies significantly by quality setting.
OpenAI gpt-image-1 pricing announcement, quoted in Reddit r/singularity (2025-04-23)Compare at This Team Size
Frequently Asked Questions
01 How accurate is this OpenAI API pricing calculator?
This calculator uses official OpenAI API pricing data verified as of 2026-10-10. Hidden cost estimates are based on 4 verified cost categories from real user reports. Actual costs may vary based on negotiated discounts, specific feature requirements, and implementation complexity.
02 What hidden costs should I include in my OpenAI API budget?
Our calculator includes 0 verified hidden cost categories for OpenAI API: . Toggle each to see how they affect your total cost.
03 Should I choose monthly or annual billing for OpenAI API?
Compare the published annual total with twelve monthly payments when both are available. An annual commitment may reduce flexibility; confirm cancellation terms and whether the quoted plan fits your needs.
04 How do I know which OpenAI API tier I need?
Start with your must-have features. OpenAI API offers 2 tiers ranging from $0.10 to $180/per million tokens. Entry tiers work for basic needs, while enterprise tiers add advanced security, customization, and support.
05 Can I negotiate OpenAI API pricing below calculator estimates?
Negotiated pricing depends on the vendor, plan and contract. We do not assume a discount in this estimate. See our negotiation guide for tactics.