Live benchmarks · September 2026

AI model comparison: pricing, benchmarks & rankings

Compare every major AI model side-by-side — GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Llama, Qwen, and more. Pricing, context windows, benchmarks, and recommendations.

AI model rankings

Ranked by a composite of coding benchmarks, knowledge scores, speed, and value. Pricing is official per-million-token rates (September 2026). Coding reflects HumanEval-style benchmarks, Knowledge reflects MMLU-style scores, Speed is relative.

# Model Provider Input / 1M Output / 1M Context Coding Knowledge Speed Best for
1GPT-5.6 SolOpenAI$5.00$30.001.05M90%88%FastCoding, agents, reasoning
2Claude Opus 4Anthropic$15.00$75.00200K88%87%MediumComplex analysis, writing
3GPT-5.4OpenAI$2.50$15.00128K85%88%FastBalanced production
4Claude Sonnet 4.5Anthropic$3.00$15.00200K89%86%FastWriting, refactoring
5DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek$0.43$0.861M92%85%FastBudget coding, math
6Gemini 3.5 ProGoogle$1.25$5.002M84%86%FastMultimodal, long context
7GPT-5.4 MiniOpenAI$0.75$4.50128K78%82%Very fastHigh-volume tasks
8DeepSeek V4 FlashDeepSeek$0.14$0.431M85%80%Very fastCheapest capable
9Qwen 3.8 FlashAlibaba$0.15$0.47128K80%81%Very fastBudget, multilingual
10Gemini 3.5 FlashGoogleFree/$0.075Free/$0.301M75%80%Very fastFree tier, prototyping
11Llama 3.3 70BMeta$0.10$0.10128K78%79%FastOpen-source, self-host
12Mistral LargeMistral$2.00$6.00128K82%84%FastEuropean hosting
13GPT-6 AstraOpenAI$10.00$50.001.05M91%90%MediumFrontier intelligence
14Claude Haiku 4.5Anthropic$0.80$4.00200K80%82%Very fastBudget Claude
15GPT-5.3 Codex SparkOpenAI$1.75$14.00128K88%80%FastCode generation

Filter by use case

Coding agents

Best
  • GPT-5.6 Sol — $5/$30, 1.05M context, top reasoning
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro — $0.43/$0.86, 92% coding benchmark
  • Claude Sonnet 4.5 — $3/$15, excellent at refactoring
Budget
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash — $0.14/$0.43
  • GPT-5.4 Mini — $0.75/$4.50

General assistant

Best
  • GPT-5.4 — $2.50/$15, balanced production
  • Claude Sonnet 4.5 — $3/$15, strong writing
  • Gemini 3.5 Pro — $1.25/$5, 2M context
Budget
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash — $0.14/$0.43
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash — free tier

Long documents

Best
  • Gemini 3.5 Pro — 2M tokens (longest)
  • GPT-5.6 Sol — 1.05M tokens
  • DeepSeek V4 — 1M tokens

Most models now support 128K+ tokens. For documents over 500K tokens, Gemini 3.5 Pro or GPT-5.6 Sol are the practical choices.

Image understanding

Best
  • GPT-5.4 — strong vision, affordable
  • Gemini 3.5 Pro — native multimodal
  • Claude Sonnet 4.5 — detailed image analysis

DeepSeek and Llama are text-only. For vision tasks, stick to GPT, Gemini, or Claude.

Cost-sensitive / high volume

Best
  • DeepSeek V4 Flash — $0.14/$0.43 per MTok
  • Gemini 3.5 Flash — free tier available
  • GPT-5.4 Mini — $0.75/$4.50

All three handle high throughput. DeepSeek V4 Flash offers the lowest cost per capable output.

Pricing comparison

Official rates vs APItokendeal prepaid token packs. Savings vary by model — cheaper models have less room for discount.

Model Official (Input / Output) Via APItokendeal (Input / Output) Savings
GPT-5.4 Mini$0.75 / $4.50~$0.60 / ~$3.60~20%
GPT-5.4$2.50 / $15.00~$1.20 / ~$12.00~50%
GPT-5.6 Sol$5.00 / $30.00~$3.00 / ~$24.00~40%
GPT-6 Astra$10.00 / $50.00~$6.00 / ~$48.00~40%
Claude Sonnet 4.5$3.00 / $15.00~$1.80 / ~$12.00~40%
DeepSeek V4 Flash$0.14 / $0.43~$0.14 / ~$0.43~0% (already cheap)

Context window comparison

Maximum tokens each model can process in a single request. Longer context means fewer chunks, simpler prompts, and better handling of large codebases or documents.

Gemini 3.5 Pro
2,000,000 tokens
GPT-5.6 Sol
1,050,000 tokens
GPT-6 Astra
1,050,000 tokens
DeepSeek V4
1,000,000 tokens
Claude Opus 4
200,000 tokens
GPT-5.4
128,000 tokens
Llama 3.3 70B
128,000 tokens

How to choose the right model

Need cheapest possible?→DeepSeek V4 Flash — $0.14/$0.43 per MTok, 1M context
Need best coding?→GPT-5.6 Sol or DeepSeek V4 Pro — 90–92% coding benchmarks
Need best writing?→Claude Sonnet 4.5 — strong at prose, refactoring, and review
Need longest context?→Gemini 3.5 Pro — 2M tokens, the largest available
Need multimodal?→GPT-5.4 or Gemini 3.5 Pro — native vision support
Need free tier?→Gemini 3.5 Flash (free within limits) or APItokendeal (2.5M free tokens)
Need all of the above?→APItokendeal — one key for every model, prepaid, no surprise bills

Model launch tracker

Recent major model releases and what changed.

Date Model Provider Key improvement
Jul 2026DeepSeek V4DeepSeek1M context, 50% cheaper than V3
Jun 2026GPT-5.6 SolOpenAISplit architecture, agent-first design
May 2026Claude Opus 4AnthropicExtended thinking, 200K context
Apr 2026Gemini 3.5 ProGoogle2M context window
Mar 2026GPT-6 AstraOpenAIFrontier multimodal reasoning

Frequently asked questions

What is the best AI model in 2026?

GPT-5.6 Sol leads for coding and agent workflows, Claude Opus 4 excels at complex analysis and writing, and DeepSeek V4 Pro offers the best cost-per-quality for budget coding. No single model wins everywhere — the best choice depends on your use case, budget, and whether you prioritize speed, reasoning depth, or context window size.

What is the cheapest AI API?

DeepSeek V4 Flash at $0.14/$0.43 per million tokens (input/output) is the cheapest capable model. Gemini 3.5 Flash offers a free tier for low-volume use. Through APItokendeal, prepaid token packs cut GPT and Claude pricing by up to 70% compared to official rates.

Which AI model has the longest context window?

Gemini 3.5 Pro supports 2 million tokens — the longest available. GPT-5.6 Sol and DeepSeek V4 both offer 1 million tokens. Claude Opus 4 supports 200K tokens with extended thinking. Most production models now support at least 128K tokens.

Can I use multiple AI models with one API key?

Yes. APItokendeal provides one API key for GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Llama, Qwen, and 30+ other models. You get a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint, one bill, and prepaid pricing with no surprise costs.

How do AI models compare for coding?

DeepSeek V4 Pro leads on cost-per-quality for code generation at $0.43/$0.86 per million tokens. GPT-5.6 Sol leads on overall coding quality with a 90% HumanEval-style benchmark score. Claude Sonnet 4.5 excels at refactoring and code review. For budget coding agents, DeepSeek V4 Flash ($0.14/$0.43) is hard to beat.

More comparisons

Compare APItokendeal with other AI API providers:

vs OpenRouter

500+ models vs 30+ — pricing comparison

vs Novita AI

Full AI cloud vs simple API access

vs Together AI

Open-source inference vs GPT + Claude

vs Groq

Ultra-fast LPU vs more models

vs SiliconFlow

Chinese models vs global access

vs Fireworks AI

Optimized inference vs prepaid pricing

Access every model with one API key

GPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Gemini, Llama, Qwen, and 30+ more. Prepaid, no surprise bills.