AI API Pricing Guide May 2026: Comparing Every Frontier Model
AI API pricing has fluctuated rapidly entering 2026.
At the start of 2025, the prevailing assumption was that "frontier models = expensive." However, as of May 2026, models achieving over 80% on the SWE-bench—a benchmark for software engineering capability—are now available for as little as $0.30 (input) / $1.20 (output).
Here is the comprehensive breakdown of current API pricing for major models.
Frontier Models (SWE-bench > 80%)
| Model | Developer | Input /1M | Output /1M | SWE-bench | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Mythos Preview | Anthropic | Undisclosed | Undisclosed | 93.9% | 1M |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | Anthropic | $5.00 | $25.00 | 87.6% | 200K |
| Claude Opus 4.6 | Anthropic | $5.00 | $25.00 | 80.8% | 1M |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | $2.50 | $15.00 | 80.6% | 1M | |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) | DeepSeek | $1.74 | $3.48 | 80.6% | 1M |
| Kimi K2.6 | Moonshot AI | $0.95 | $4.00 | 80.2% | 256K |
| MiniMax M2.5 | MiniMax | $0.30 | $1.20 | 80.2% | 200K |
| GPT-5.2 | OpenAI | $1.25 | $10.00 | 80.0% | 256K |
High-Performance Models (SWE-bench 75-80%)
| Model | Developer | Input /1M | Output /1M | SWE-bench | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Anthropic | $3.00 | $15.00 | 79.6% | 1M |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash (Max) | DeepSeek | $0.14 | $0.28 | 79.0% | 1M |
| Qwen3.6 Plus | Alibaba | $0.50 | $3.00 | 78.8% | 1M |
| MiMo-V2-Pro | Xiaomi | $0.50 | $3.00 | 78.0% | 1M |
| Mistral Medium 3.5 | Mistral | $1.50 | $7.50 | 77.6% | 256K |
| GLM-5 | Zhipu AI | $1.00 | $3.20 | 77.8% | 200K |
Maximum Cost-Efficiency
To determine the best value, we calculate the "Score per Dollar" by dividing the SWE-bench score by the output price:
| Model | Score | Output /1M | Score / Dollar | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash (Max) | 79.0% | $0.28 | 282.1 | Unbeatable value |
| MiniMax M2.5 | 80.2% | $1.20 | 66.8 | Cheapest Top-10 model |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) | 80.6% | $3.48 | 23.2 | Cheapest Frontier class |
| Kimi K2.6 | 80.2% | $4.00 | 20.1 | Moonshot AI flagship |
| Qwen3.6 Plus | 78.8% | $3.00 | 26.3 | Alibaba flagship |
| MiMo-V2-Pro | 78.0% | $3.00 | 26.0 | Xiaomi flagship |
| GPT-5.2 | 80.0% | $10.00 | 8.0 | OpenAI flagship |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | 80.6% | $15.00 | 5.4 | Google flagship |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | 79.6% | $15.00 | 5.3 | Anthropic flagship |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | 87.6% | $25.00 | 3.5 | Ultra-high performance |
DeepSeek V4 Flash (Max) is in a league of its own. With a score of 79.0% at an output price of just $0.28, its cost-performance is 80 times higher than that of Opus 4.7.
Monthly Cost Estimation
Estimated cost for 10 million monthly tokens (5M input + 5M output):
| Model | Monthly Cost | Primary Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash (Max) | $2.10 | Lightweight tasks |
| MiniMax M2.5 | $7.50 | Coding automation |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro (Max) | $26.10 | Frontier-level workloads |
| Kimi K2.6 | $24.75 | Frontier-level workloads |
| GPT-5.2 | $56.25 | General OpenAI ecosystem |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | $87.50 | General Google ecosystem |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $90.00 | General Anthropic ecosystem |
| Claude Opus 4.7 | $150.00 | Maximum performance |
For 10 million tokens, the cost difference between the most affordable (DeepSeek V4 Flash) and the most expensive (Opus 4.7) is 71x.
The Critical Role of Context Caching
Several providers now offer cached input pricing, which is transformative for agentic workflows:
| Model | Standard Input | Cached Input | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemini 3.5 Flash | $1.50 | $0.15 | 90% |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | $2.50 | $0.25 (est) | 90% |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro | $1.74 | $0.44 | 75% |
| MiniMax M2.7 | $0.30 | $0.06 | 80% |
For agents that reread the same context repeatedly, caching can reduce costs by over 90%. Gemini 3.5 Flash's $0.15/1M cached price makes it the most cost-efficient choice for agent-heavy deployments.
Historical Price Trends
Comparing pricing from early 2025 to May 2026:
| Model | Early 2025 | Late 2025 | May 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Opus | $15/$75 | $5/$25 | $5/$25 | Input down 67% |
| GPT-4o | $5/$15 | — | — | Migrated to GPT-5.2 |
| GPT-5.2 | — | — | $1.25/$10 | New price tier |
| Gemini Pro | $7/$21 | $2.50/$15 | $2.50/$15 | Input down 64% |
| DeepSeek V4 | — | — | $1.74/$3.48 | New entrant |
There is a clear trend of plummeting input prices. Comparing early 2025 Claude Opus ($15/$75) to current Opus 4.7 ($5/$25), the input cost has dropped to one-third. Output prices have fallen more slowly, likely because the value per output token increases as generation quality improves.
Model Selection Guide
| Use Case | Recommended Model | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Coding (Best Quality) | Claude Opus 4.7 | SWE-bench 87.6% |
| Coding (Best Value) | MiniMax M2.5 | 80.2% at $0.30/$1.20 |
| Coding (Cheapest) | DeepSeek V4 Flash | 79.0% at $0.14/$0.28 |
| Long Context | Gemini 3.1 Pro | 1M context window |
| AI Agents | Gemini 3.5 Flash | $0.15 cache, 4x faster |
| Reasoning/Math | GPT-5.5 Pro | Top FrontierMath score |
| Multilingual/Japanese | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | High linguistic quality |
| Self-Hosting/Local | DeepSeek V4 | Open-source availability |
| Strict Budget | MiniMax M2.5 | Lowest cost among Top-10 |
Outlook for H2 2026
Prices will continue to drop. With DeepSeek V4 Flash hitting $0.14/$0.28, we have entered a zone where costs are almost negligible. Other providers will likely follow suit.
Caching will become the new competitive frontier. As agentic workloads scale, the difference in cached pricing will directly dictate the ROI of AI implementations.
The gap between "Cheapest" and "Best" will widen. The price difference between a 93.9% model like Mythos and a 79% model like DeepSeek V4 Flash is over 100x. Users must now be more precise in managing the trade-off between quality and cost.
Summary
As of May 2026, the AI API market is more diversified than ever. We see a spectrum ranging from the ultra-economical DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.14/$0.28) to the premium, undisclosed pricing of Claude Mythos.
Critically, the performance gap between the cheapest and the best models is shrinking. The fact that 80%+ SWE-bench performance is now available for $0.30/$1.20 signals the true democratization of frontier-level AI.
The central question for developers has shifted from "Which model is the best?" to "Which model is the most optimal for my specific use case?"
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