LLM API pricing compared: cost per message and per user (November 2026)

List prices for 56 text models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, turned into numbers you can price a subscription with: what one chat message costs (1,500 tokens in, 400 out), and how many messages a user on a $9.99 plan can send each month before their AI cost uses up what you keep after a 15% store fee. Prices are the ones FiscaLLM uses to cost real usage, audited against each provider's pricing page.

AI cost per user calculator

Cost per message
$0.0012
AI cost per user / month
$0.35
Margin per user / month
$8.14
Break-even messages / month
7,226

List prices, standard tier, prompts under the long-context threshold. Averages hide your heaviest users: FiscaLLM shows this per real user.

Price per million tokens and per message

ModelInputCachedOutputPer messageBreak-even / mo
Claude Haiku 5.5 Anthropic$0.1$0.01$0.5$0.0003524,261
Claude Haiku 4.5 Anthropic$1$0.1$5$0.00352,426
Claude Sonnet 5.5 Anthropic$2$0.1$10$0.00701,213
Claude Sonnet 5 Anthropic$2$0.2$10$0.00701,213
Claude Sonnet 4.6 Anthropic$3$0.3$15$0.0105808
Claude Sonnet 4.5 Anthropic$3$0.3$15$0.0105808
Claude Opus 5.5 Anthropic$4$0.2$20$0.0140606
Claude Opus 5 Anthropic$5$0.5$25$0.0175485
Claude Opus 4.8 Anthropic$5$0.5$25$0.0175485
Claude Opus 4.7 Anthropic$5$0.5$25$0.0175485
Claude Opus 4.6 Anthropic$5$0.5$25$0.0175485
Claude Opus 4.5 Anthropic$5$0.5$25$0.0175485
Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic$10$0.25$50$0.0350242
Claude Fable 5 Anthropic$10$1$50$0.0350242
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite Google$0.1$0.01$0.4$0.0003127,391
Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite Google$0.25$0.025$1.5$0.000978,709
Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite Google$0.3$0.03$2.5$0.00145,856
Gemini 2.5 Flash Google$0.3$0.03$2.5$0.00145,856
Gemini 3 Flash Preview Google$0.5$0.05$3$0.00194,354
Gemini 3.8 Flash Google$0.75$0.075$3.75$0.00263,234
Gemini 3.6 Flash Google$0.75$0.075$3.75$0.00263,234
Gemini 2.5 Pro Google$1.25$0.125$10$0.00591,445
Gemini 4 Argon Google$2$0.1$10$0.00701,213
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Google$2$0.2$12$0.00781,088
GPT-5 nano OpenAI$0.05$0.005$0.4$0.0002336,134
GPT-4.1 nano OpenAI$0.1$0.025$0.4$0.0003127,391
GPT-6 luna OpenAI$0.1$0.01$0.5$0.0003524,261
GPT-4o mini OpenAI$0.15$0.075$0.6$0.0004718,261
GPT-5.6 luna OpenAI$0.2$0.02$1.2$0.0007810,886
GPT-5.4 nano OpenAI$0.2$0.02$1.25$0.0008010,614
GPT-5 mini OpenAI$0.25$0.025$2$0.00127,226
GPT-4.1 mini OpenAI$0.4$0.1$1.6$0.00126,847
GPT-3.5 turbo OpenAI$0.5–$1.5$0.00146,290
GPT-5.4 mini OpenAI$0.75$0.075$4.5$0.00292,903
o3-mini OpenAI$1.1$0.55$4.4$0.00342,490
o4-mini OpenAI$1.1$0.275$4.4$0.00342,490
GPT-5.1 OpenAI$1.25$0.125$10$0.00591,445
GPT-5 OpenAI$1.25$0.125$10$0.00591,445
GPT-4.1 OpenAI$2$0.5$8$0.00621,369
o3 OpenAI$2$0.5$8$0.00621,369
GPT-6.1 sol OpenAI$2$0.1$10$0.00701,213
GPT-6 sol OpenAI$2$0.2$10$0.00701,213
GPT-4o OpenAI$2.5$1.25$10$0.00771,095
GPT-5.6 terra OpenAI$2$0.2$12$0.00781,088
GPT-5.2 OpenAI$1.75$0.175$14$0.00821,032
GPT-5.4 OpenAI$2.5$0.25$15$0.0097870
GPT-5.6 sol OpenAI$4$0.4$20$0.0140606
GPT-5.5 OpenAI$5$0.5$30$0.0195435
GPT-6 astra OpenAI$10$1$50$0.0350242
o1 OpenAI$15$7.5$60$0.0465182
o3-pro OpenAI$20–$80$0.0620136
GPT-5 pro OpenAI$15–$120$0.0705120
GPT-5.2 pro OpenAI$21–$168$0.098786
GPT-5.5 pro OpenAI$30–$180$0.11772
GPT-5.4 pro OpenAI$30–$180$0.11772
o1-pro OpenAI$150–$600$0.46518

USD per million tokens, standard tier, prompts under the long-context threshold. "Break-even" is messages per month at which a $9.99 subscriber costs you everything you keep. Sources and audit: ACCURACY.md.

Head-to-head comparisons

Why averages are not enough

A model that looks cheap per message can still lose money on your heaviest users. In most AI apps a few percent of users run up most of the bill, and a flat plan charges them the same as everyone else. To price safely you need cost per user, next to what each user actually paid.

That is what FiscaLLM does: one line after each AI call reports token counts (never prompts), RevenueCat, Stripe or a CSV reports revenue, and you see margin per user, plan and free trial, with alerts and optional caps. Free and open source. See the demo dashboard.

Questions

What is the cheapest LLM API per message?

At list prices, for a 1,500-token prompt and a 400-token reply: GPT-5 nano ($0.00023), GPT-4.1 nano ($0.00031) and Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite ($0.00031).

How do I calculate LLM cost per user?

Multiply each call's input, cached and output tokens by the model's price per million tokens, add up the calls for each user, and compare the total with what that user paid you after store fees and tax.

Why do output tokens cost more than input tokens?

Generating each output token takes a full pass through the model, while input tokens are processed in parallel. Most providers charge 4 to 8 times more for output.

Does prompt caching reduce cost?

Yes. Tokens read from the cache are billed at a fraction of the input price, often 10%. A chat app that resends the same system prompt and history can cut input cost by more than half.