Subscription or API: which is cheaper for you?
Enter how you use AI and see where a plan pays off.
On the API, each message resends the earlier turns of the chat, so the input grows as a chat gets longer; the chat-length choice sets how many earlier turns ride along on average. Words become tokens at 0.7 words per token. A plan also buys the apps, file uploads, image and voice features and its own limits; the API side here prices tokens only.
Prices and limits checked on October 26, 2026 on each provider's own page. See the numbers and sources
The numbers behind this tool
Read on October 26, 2026 from each provider's own page. Prices are US dollars per million tokens, standard tier.
| Plan | Price a month | What the price page says about usage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Free OpenAI |
$0 | Unlimited text chats with GPT-6 (subject to abuse guardrails); limited uploads, image creation, voice, deep research and Codex. | chatgpt.com |
| ChatGPT Go OpenAI |
$5.50 | More messages with tools, uploads, image creation and voice than Free; may include ads. Price as shown on the page when checked; OpenAI prices Go by country. | chatgpt.com |
| ChatGPT Plus OpenAI |
$20.00 | Advanced reasoning with GPT-6, expanded messages, uploads, deep research and Codex. Limits apply. | chatgpt.com |
| ChatGPT Pro OpenAI |
$100.00 | From $100 a month, with three usage tiers; Pro reasoning with GPT-6 Astra. | chatgpt.com |
| Claude Free Anthropic |
$0 | Free covers everyday questions. | claude.com |
| Claude Pro Anthropic |
$20.00 | Pro gives you at least 5x more usage per 5-hour session than Free. | claude.com |
| Claude Max 5x Anthropic |
$100.00 | Max 5x includes five times the Pro plan's per-session usage allowance. | support.claude.com |
| Claude Max 20x Anthropic |
$200.00 | Max 20x includes 20 times the Pro plan's per-session usage allowance. | support.claude.com |
| Gemini (free) |
$0 | Not stated | gemini.google |
| Google AI Plus |
$4.99 | Get 2x higher usage access than Free. | gemini.google |
| Google AI Pro |
$19.99 | Get 4x higher usage access than Free. | gemini.google |
| Google AI Ultra (5x) |
$99.99 | 5x higher usage limits vs. AI Pro | gemini.google |
| Google AI Ultra (20x) |
$199.99 | 20x higher usage limits vs. AI Pro | gemini.google |
| Cursor Free Cursor |
$0 | Limited agent requests | cursor.com |
| Cursor Plus Cursor |
$8.00 | Shared AI usage pool | cursor.com |
| Cursor Premium Cursor |
$30.00 | 4x usage compared to Plus | cursor.com |
| Cursor Super Cursor |
$100.00 | 15x usage compared to Plus | cursor.com |
| Cursor Ultra Cursor |
$200.00 | 50x usage compared to Plus | cursor.com |
| GitHub Copilot Free GitHub |
$0 | Limited chat and agent usage; 2,000 inline suggestions per month | github.com |
| GitHub Copilot Pro GitHub |
$10.00 | $10/month base AI credits + $5/month flex allotment; unlimited inline suggestions | github.com |
| GitHub Copilot Pro+ GitHub |
$39.00 | $39/month base AI credits + $31/month flex allotment; unlimited inline suggestions | github.com |
| Le Chat / Vibe Pro Mistral |
$14.99 | Not stated | mistral.ai |
Model prices used for the API side
| Model | Input | Output | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI GPT-6 Astra | $10.00 | $50.00 | developers.openai.com |
| OpenAI GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.00 | $10.00 | developers.openai.com |
| OpenAI GPT-6 Luna | $0.10 | $0.50 | developers.openai.com |
| Anthropic Claude Fable 5.1 | $10.00 | $50.00 | platform.claude.com |
| Anthropic Claude Opus 5.5 | $4.00 | $20.00 | platform.claude.com |
| Anthropic Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $2.00 | $10.00 | platform.claude.com |
| Anthropic Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.10 | $0.50 | platform.claude.com |
| Google Gemini 4 Argon | $2.00 | $10.00 | ai.google.dev |
| Google Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 | ai.google.dev |
| Google Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite | $0.30 | $2.50 | ai.google.dev |
| DeepSeek DeepSeek-V4-Pro (DeepSeek-V4-Pro-0813) | $1.32 | $3.96 | api-docs.deepseek.com |
| DeepSeek DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash (DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017) | $0.30 | $1.20 | api-docs.deepseek.com |
| xAI Grok 4.7 | $2.00 | $6.00 | docs.x.ai |
| xAI Grok 4.3 | $1.25 | $2.50 | docs.x.ai |
| Mistral Mistral Large 4 | $1.36 | $4.18 | docs.mistral.ai |
| Mistral Mistral Medium 3.5 | $1.50 | $7.50 | docs.mistral.ai |
| Mistral Mistral Small 4 | $0.15 | $0.60 | docs.mistral.ai |
Free API tiers
- Google: Gemini API free tier. Free tier ('Free of charge') listed for gemini-3.8-flash, gemini-3.6-flash, gemini-3.5-flash-lite, gemini-3.1-flash-lite, gemini-2.5-pro, gemini-2.5-flash, gemini-2.5-flash-lite and others; not available for gemini-4-argon or gemini-3.1-pro-preview. Free-tier RPM/TPM/RPD numbers are not stated on the rate-limits page ('View your active rate limits in AI Studio'). (ai.google.dev)
- OpenAI: No free token tier for text models. Only omni-moderation-latest is priced 'Free'. File search storage and ChatKit storage include 1 GB free. (developers.openai.com)
- DeepSeek: No free tier stated. Pricing page states no free grant amount; it says granted balance is used before topped-up balance. (api-docs.deepseek.com)
- Mistral: No free API tier stated. Neither mistral.ai/pricing nor docs.mistral.ai/inference/pricing states a free API tier; the free plan covers limited Vibe and Mistral Studio access. (mistral.ai)
How it compares
Describe how you chat: messages a day, how long they are, how long the answers run and how long a conversation goes on. The tool works out what that would cost on the API with the model you pick, then sets it against each plan’s monthly price, read from the plan’s own pricing page.
Chat length matters because the API has no memory of its own: each new message sends the earlier part of the conversation again, so a long chat costs more per message than a short one.
What a plan gives that the API price does not show
A subscription includes the apps, file uploads, image and voice features, and in some cases agents and coding tools. The API side of this comparison prices only the text. Plans also have usage limits; the table shows what each vendor’s price page says about them, in its own words.
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