AI agent cost calculator
Estimate the monthly LLM token cost of a chatbot, RAG app or AI agent across 79 models. List prices per 1M tokens from OpenRouter (corrections in methodology), updated 2026-10-29.
Workload
Results · sorted by monthly cost · 30-day month
| Model | $/M in | $/M out | Per task | Per day | Per month | vs selected / month | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash deepseek | 0.045 | 0.5 | $0.0002 | $0.19 | $5.58 | — baseline | |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 anthropic | 0.1 | 0.5 | $0.0002 | $0.23 | $6.90 | +$1.32 | |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash google | 0.75 | 3.75 | $0.0017 | $1.72 | $51.75 | +$46.17 | |
| GPT-6.1 Terra openai | 1 | 5 | $0.0023 | $2.30 | $69.00 | +$63.42 | |
| Grok 4.7 x-ai | 2 | 6 | $0.0034 | $3.40 | $102.00 | +$96.42 | |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 anthropic | 2 | 10 | $0.0046 | $4.60 | $138.00 | +$132.42 | |
| Gemini 4 Argon google | 2 | 10 | $0.0046 | $4.60 | $138.00 | +$132.42 | |
| Kimi K3.1 Pro moonshotai | 2 | 10 | $0.0046 | $4.60 | $138.00 | +$132.42 | |
| GPT-6.1 Sol openai | 2 | 10 | $0.0046 | $4.60 | $138.00 | +$132.42 | |
| Claude Opus 5.5 anthropic | 4 | 20 | $0.0092 | $9.20 | $276.00 | +$270.42 |
Models · 10 selected
How the AI agent cost calculator works
- Pick a workload preset (chatbot, RAG, coding agent, research agent, batch summarization) or type your own token counts.
- Set steps per task and tasks per day. Agents repeat the model call at every step, so steps drive AI agent runtime cost more than anything else.
- Add cached input % if your provider caches repeated prompts; those tokens are billed at the cache-read price.
- Compare models. Results are sorted by monthly cost (30-day month). Click a row to make it the baseline and see the difference per month.
Full formula and data sources: methodology. Per-model prices: LLM pricing comparison. Head-to-head: model vs model.
Example use cases
Monthly cost on the 10 default models, list prices updated 2026-10-29.
| Use case | Cheapest default model | Most expensive default |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 1,000 chats a day, ~800 input and 300 output tokens each. | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $5.58 | Claude Opus 5.5 $276.00 |
| RAG Q&A over your docs 500 questions a day with ~4,000 tokens of retrieved context each. | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $5.70 | Claude Opus 5.5 $360.00 |
| Coding agent 50 tasks a day, 15 steps each, ~20,000 input tokens per step, 50% cached. | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $28.35 | Claude Opus 5.5 $1620.00 |
| Research agent 100 tasks a day, 10 steps each, 20% of input cached. | DeepSeek V4.1 Flash $23.93 | Claude Opus 5.5 $1377.60 |
Agent tools (frameworks, observability, hosting) bill separately: see the AI agent tools directory.
FAQ
How is the monthly cost calculated?
Cost per task = steps × (uncached input tokens × input price + cached input tokens × cache-read price + output tokens × output price) ÷ 1,000,000. Daily cost = cost per task × tasks per day, and monthly cost = daily cost × 30.
Where do the token prices come from?
List prices per million tokens from the OpenRouter models list, refreshed by script (last update 2026-10-29). Where OpenRouter differs from the provider's official pricing page, we apply a correction and show the source on the model page. Models we could not verify are marked ⚠.
Why does an AI agent cost more than a chatbot?
An agent works in steps, and each step usually re-sends the conversation so far as input. Input tokens per step × steps per task grows quickly, so a 15-step coding agent can cost far more per task than a single chatbot reply on the same model.
What does "cached input %" do?
It is the share of input tokens billed at the provider's cache-read price instead of the full input price, for example a long system prompt that repeats on every step. If a model has no published cache-read price, cached tokens are billed at the full input price.
What is not included in the estimate?
Taxes, tool or web-search fees, hidden reasoning-token overhead, rate-limit tiers, batch discounts and any negotiated pricing. Direct provider prices can also differ from OpenRouter. Treat the result as an estimate and confirm with the provider.
Is the calculator free? Can I share a result?
Yes. It is free with no sign-up. "Copy share link" saves your inputs and selected models in the URL, and "Export CSV" downloads the results table.
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