April 2026 AI Model API Cost Review: List Price ≠ Real Cost

April 2026 AI Model API Cost Review: List Price ≠ Real Cost

Verdict

Comparing model costs by per-token list price alone is misleading. GPT-5.5’s output price is 3x Gemini 2.5 Pro’s, but the total cost to run the full Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index is $3,357 vs $861 — less than 4x the gap, because GPT-5.5 uses far fewer tokens.

True cost ranking (low to high): Tencent Hy3 Preview (free) > DeepSeek V4 Pro ($1,071) > Gemini 2.5 Pro ($861) > GPT-5.5 medium ($1,199) > GPT-5.5 high ($2,159) > GPT-5.5 xhigh ($3,357) > Claude Sonnet 4.6 ($3,959) > Claude Opus 4.7 ($4,811).

Test Dimensions

List Price

ModelInput ($/MTok)Output ($/MTok)
GPT-5.5$5$30
Claude Opus 4.7$5$25
Claude Sonnet 4.6$3$15
Gemini 2.5 Pro$1.25$10
DeepSeek V4$0.3$3.48
Tencent Hy3 Preview$0$0

Actual Task Cost

Full Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (10 standardized evaluations):

  • Claude Opus 4.7: $4,811
  • Claude Sonnet 4.6: $3,959
  • GPT-5.5 (xhigh): $3,357
  • GPT-5.4 (xhigh): $2,851
  • GPT-5.5 (high): $2,159
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro: $1,071
  • GPT-5.5 (medium): $1,199
  • Gemini 2.5 Pro: $861

Key finding: GPT-5.5, despite the highest list price, costs 30% less than Claude Opus 4.7 for the same benchmark suite — token efficiency offsets the unit price disadvantage.

GitHub Copilot Multipliers

Latest model multipliers:

  • Opus 4.6 / Sonnet 4.6: 9x
  • Opus 4.5 / Sonnet 4.5: 6x (Sonnet), 5x (Opus)
  • Opus 4.7: 3.6x
  • Gemini 3 Pro / 3.1 Pro: 6x
  • GPT 5.1: 4x

Scenario Cost Estimates

1,000 customer service chats/day (~2K tokens each):

  • Gemini 2.5 Pro: ~$2.5/day
  • DeepSeek V4: ~$7.6/day
  • GPT-5.5 (medium): ~$10/day
  • Claude Opus 4.7: ~$25/day

50 complex code reviews/day (~20K tokens each):

  • Gemini 2.5 Pro: ~$12.5/day
  • DeepSeek V4 Pro: ~$18/day
  • GPT-5.5 (high): ~$35/day
  • Claude Sonnet 4.6: ~$45/day

Recommendations

Cost-first (simple tasks): Gemini 2.5 Pro.

Cost-performance balance: GPT-5.5 (medium/high quality tiers).

极限 quality: GPT-5.5 (xhigh) — 30% cheaper than Opus 4.7.

Offline / self-hosted: DeepSeek V4 or Qwen 3.6-27B.

GitHub Copilot users: Watch multiplier changes — Opus models at 3.6x-9x.

Primary Sources