PROVIDER GUIDE · VERIFIED 13 JUL 2026
OpenAI GPT API pricing, explained
OpenAI's lineup spans the widest price range of any provider we track — a 33x gap between its cheapest and most expensive output token. Here's what that spread actually buys you.
| Model | Input /1M | Output /1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o mini | $0.15 | $0.60 | 128K |
| GPT-4o | $2.50 | $10.00 | 128K |
| GPT-5.5 | $5.00 | $30.00 | 400K |
GPT-4o mini is doing more work than its name suggests
At $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens, GPT-4o mini is one of the two cheapest models we track across every provider — tied with Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash. For high-volume tasks where the "mini" label makes it feel like a compromise, remember: it's priced for exactly the classification, extraction, and routing work that makes up most of a typical production system's actual call volume. Defaulting everything to GPT-5.5 out of habit is one of the most common ways teams overspend on OpenAI's API.
GPT-4o's awkward middle position
GPT-4o sits at $2.50/$10.00 — priced close to Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5 ($2.00/$10.00) and noticeably above Google's Gemini 3 Flash ($0.50/$3.00) for what's often comparable mid-tier capability. If your workload can tolerate a bit less polish for real cost savings, it's worth benchmarking Gemini 3 Flash against GPT-4o for your specific task before defaulting to OpenAI here.
GPT-5.5 is expensive, but not the priciest we track
At $30.00 per million output tokens, GPT-5.5 sits near the top of the flagship tier — more expensive than Anthropic's Claude Opus 4.8 ($25.00) and Google's Gemini 3.1 Pro ($12.00), though still below Anthropic's most capable tier, Claude Fable 5, at $50.00. Reserve GPT-5.5 for tasks where its specific reasoning strengths matter, not as a default "best model" choice — check the full price table before assuming the newest flagship is automatically the right (or the most expensive) pick for your task.
How we'd actually pick
- High-volume, simple tasks: GPT-4o mini — but benchmark against Gemini 2.5 Flash first, they're priced identically.
- General production workload: GPT-4o — check whether Gemini 3 Flash handles your task at a fraction of the cost before committing.
- Maximum capability, cost secondary: GPT-5.5.
Prices verified against platform.openai.com/docs/pricing, 13 July 2026. See full methodology. Use the calculator to compare GPT against every other tracked provider for your own usage.