The BenchLM Token Price Index
The BenchLM Token Price Index stands at 15.5 for October 2026 — frontier LLM token prices are 84.5% below their March 2023 base, at a median blended $5.81 per 1M tokens across 36 flagship models.
Monthly series · Updated with pricing changes · Base: March 2023 = 100 · Methodology v1.3
Frontier index · October 2026
15.5
March 2023 = 100 · lower is cheaper
- Median blended
- $5.81 / 1M
- Active constituents
- 36
- Blend
- 3:1 input:output
This is the median of a changing model basket. New entries and exits can move it even when individual prices stay unchanged. The current month includes observations through 2026-10-13; older months use their recorded prices. Standard uncached rates apply, including active introductory prices and DeepSeek peak rates.
Index by tier, March 2023 – October 2026 (each tier's first month = 100)
| Sub-index | Value | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier | 15.5 | -3.1% | +66.7% |
| Mid-tier | 30.1 | -6.2% | -44.5% |
| Budget | 61.2 | -12.6% | -28% |
What changed since last month
- Mistral Large 4Mid-tier — entered the index at $1.03/1M blended
- Claude Haiku 5.5Budget — entered the index at $0.20/1M blended
- Gemini 4 ArgonFrontier — entered the index at $4.00/1M blended
Current constituents (74)
General-purpose API models from Anthropic, DeepSeek, Google, Mistral, Moonshot AI, OpenAI, xAI. Audio, dedicated coding models, and restricted-access variants are excluded. See the full pricing catalog.
| Model | Tier | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Blended $/1M | Price observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grok 4.3 (xAI) | Frontier | $1.25 | $2.5 | $1.56 | 2026-09-30 |
| Kimi 2.6 (Moonshot AI) | Frontier | $0.95 | $4 | $1.71 | 2026-09-30 |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 (DeepSeek) | Frontier | $1.32 | $3.96 | $1.98 | 2026-09-30 |
| Grok 4.6 (xAI) | Frontier | $2 | $6 | $3.00 | 2026-08-12 |
| Grok 4.7 (xAI) | Frontier | $2 | $6 | $3.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| Grok 4.5 (xAI) | Frontier | $2 | $6 | $3.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5.1 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $1.25 | $10 | $3.44 | 2026-07-02 |
| Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google) | Frontier | $1.25 | $10 | $3.44 | 2026-07-02 |
| GPT-5 (high) (OpenAI) | Frontier | $1.25 | $10 | $3.44 | 2026-09-30 |
| o3 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2 | $8 | $3.50 | 2026-07-02 |
| GPT-6 Sol (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2 | $10 | $4.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2 | $10 | $4.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| Gemini 4 Argon (Google) | Frontier | $2 | $10 | $4.00 | 2026-10-13 |
| GPT-4o (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2.5 | $10 | $4.38 | 2026-04-01 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google) | Frontier | $2 | $12 | $4.50 | 2026-10-13 |
| GPT-5.2 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $1.75 | $14 | $4.81 | 2026-07-02 |
| GPT-5.3 Instant (OpenAI) | Frontier | $1.75 | $14 | $4.81 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5.4 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2.5 | $15 | $5.63 | 2026-04-01 |
| Kimi K3 (Moonshot AI) | Frontier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 | 2026-07-16 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $4 | $20 | $8.00 | 2026-09-22 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol (OpenAI) | Frontier | $4 | $20 | $8.00 | 2026-09-11 |
| Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $5 | $25 | $10.00 | 2026-07-02 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $5 | $25 | $10.00 | 2026-05-28 |
| Claude Opus 5 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $5 | $25 | $10.00 | 2026-07-24 |
| Claude Opus 4.7 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $5 | $25 | $10.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| Claude Opus 4.5 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $5 | $25 | $10.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5.5 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $5 | $30 | $11.25 | 2026-04-23 |
| Claude Fable 5 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $10 | $50 | $20.00 | 2026-06-09 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $10 | $50 | $20.00 | 2026-09-01 |
| GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI) | Frontier | $10 | $50 | $20.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| o1 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $15 | $60 | $26.25 | 2026-04-01 |
| o3-pro (OpenAI) | Frontier | $20 | $80 | $35.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5.2 Pro (OpenAI) | Frontier | $21 | $168 | $57.75 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro (OpenAI) | Frontier | $30 | $180 | $67.50 | 2026-04-01 |
| GPT-5.5 Pro (OpenAI) | Frontier | $30 | $180 | $67.50 | 2026-04-23 |
| o1-pro (OpenAI) | Frontier | $150 | $600 | $262.50 | 2026-09-30 |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (DeepSeek) | Mid-tier | $0.3 | $1.2 | $0.53 | 2026-09-30 |
| Mistral Large 3 (Mistral) | Mid-tier | $0.5 | $1.5 | $0.75 | 2026-07-02 |
| Mistral Medium 3 (Mistral) | Mid-tier | $0.4 | $2 | $0.80 | 2026-09-30 |
| Mistral Large 4 (Mistral) | Mid-tier | $0.68 | $2.09 | $1.03 | 2026-10-06 |
| Gemini 3 Flash (Google) | Mid-tier | $0.5 | $3 | $1.13 | 2026-04-01 |
| Gemini 3.6 Flash (Google) | Mid-tier | $0.75 | $3.75 | $1.50 | 2026-09-25 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash (Google) | Mid-tier | $0.75 | $3.75 | $1.50 | 2026-09-30 |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash (Google) | Mid-tier | $0.75 | $3.75 | $1.50 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5.4 mini (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $0.75 | $4.5 | $1.69 | 2026-04-01 |
| o3-mini (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $1.1 | $4.4 | $1.93 | 2026-04-01 |
| Mistral Medium 3.5 128B (Mistral) | Mid-tier | $1.5 | $7.5 | $3.00 | 2026-09-30 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash (Google) | Mid-tier | $1.5 | $9 | $3.38 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-4.1 (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $2 | $8 | $3.50 | 2026-04-01 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $2 | $10 | $4.00 | 2026-06-30 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $2 | $10 | $4.00 | 2026-10-07 |
| GPT-5.6 Terra (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $2 | $12 | $4.50 | 2026-09-11 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 | 2026-04-01 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 | 2026-04-01 |
| Ministral 3 3B (Mistral) | Budget | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.10 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5 nano (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.05 | $0.4 | $0.14 | 2026-09-30 |
| Ministral 3 8B (Mistral) | Budget | $0.15 | $0.15 | $0.15 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-4.1 nano (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.1 | $0.4 | $0.17 | 2026-04-01 |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite (Google) | Budget | $0.1 | $0.4 | $0.17 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.1 | $0.5 | $0.20 | 2026-09-30 |
| Ministral 3 14B (Mistral) | Budget | $0.2 | $0.2 | $0.20 | 2026-09-30 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic) | Budget | $0.1 | $0.5 | $0.20 | 2026-10-07 |
| GPT-4o mini (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.15 | $0.6 | $0.26 | 2026-04-01 |
| Mistral Small 4 (Mistral) | Budget | $0.15 | $0.6 | $0.26 | 2026-09-30 |
| Grok 3 Mini (xAI) | Budget | $0.3 | $0.5 | $0.35 | 2026-04-01 |
| GPT-5.6 Luna (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.2 | $1.2 | $0.45 | 2026-09-11 |
| GPT-5.4 nano (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.2 | $1.25 | $0.46 | 2026-03-17 |
| Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite (Google) | Budget | $0.25 | $1.5 | $0.56 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-5 mini (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.25 | $2 | $0.69 | 2026-09-30 |
| GPT-4.1 mini (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.4 | $1.6 | $0.70 | 2026-04-01 |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash (Google) | Budget | $0.3 | $2.5 | $0.85 | 2026-07-02 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite (Google) | Budget | $0.3 | $2.5 | $0.85 | 2026-09-30 |
| o4-mini (OpenAI) | Budget | $1.1 | $4.4 | $1.93 | 2026-09-30 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 (Anthropic) | Budget | $1 | $5 | $2.00 | 2026-07-02 |
Blended = (3 × input + output) / 4. Cache, Batch, Flex, volume, and off-peak discounts are excluded. Constituent rules and tier assignments: methodology.
Cite the index
Cite as "the BenchLM Token Price Index" with a link to this page. The full monthly series is free for non-commercial use with that credit, under CC BY-NC 4.0. Commercial use needs a license.
BenchLM Token Price Index, October 2026: 15.5 (Mar 2023 = 100). BenchLM.ai, https://benchlm.ai/token-price-indexQuestions
What is the BenchLM Token Price Index?
The BenchLM Token Price Index tracks what 1M tokens costs at the frontier of AI, month by month. It is the median blended API price (3:1 input:output ratio) across the flagship models sold at each point in time, normalized so March 2023 (GPT-4 launch) = 100. A value of 15.5 means frontier token prices are 84.5% below that base. Mid-tier and budget sub-indexes track the same rule for workhorse and small models.
How much have LLM token prices dropped?
The BenchLM Token Price Index stands at 15.5 for October 2026 — frontier LLM token prices are 84.5% below their March 2023 base, at a median blended $5.81 per 1M tokens across 36 flagship models. Prices are per blended 1M tokens across 36 active frontier constituents.
How is the index calculated?
Each tier uses the median of (3 × input + output) / 4 per million tokens, normalized to its first month. Each build records dated prices before recomputing the series. Models enter at their first observation and exit after a sourced API replacement or retirement. Basket changes can move the median without a price cut.
Can I cite or embed the index?
Yes. Cite it as "the BenchLM Token Price Index" with a link to benchlm.ai/token-price-index. The full series is downloadable at /data/price-index.json, and an embeddable chart is available at /embed/price-index.
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