Models are sorted by estimated cost for 1,000,000 input tokens and 2,000,000 output tokens. Use this page when assistant responses, support replies, or generated chat messages dominate the bill.
Cheap LLM API Models for Chatbots
Chatbot workloads can become output-token heavy, so this guide highlights models with low standardized workload costs, clear output pricing, and practical alternatives.
50Models listed
1M input + 2M outputCost example tokens
USD / 1MNormalized prices
Quick shortlist
Start with Owl Alpha.
This guide is sorted by chatbot-heavy workload cost, so output-heavy assistant workloads start from the models with the lowest response-token economics.
The ranking is a discovery aid, not a final recommendation. Always compare the model against your workload and verify provider pricing before production use.
Estimate your workload cost
Customize guide costs
This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.
Model Ranking
Browse all models| Model | Provider | Prompt | Output | Chatbot Cost | Your Cost | Context | Popularity | Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🔥Owl Alpha | OpenRouter | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1.05M | #7 | |
| New🔥Nemotron 3 Ultra (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1M | #12 | |
| 🔥Laguna M.1 (free) | Poolside | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | #14 | |
| Nemotron 3 Super (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1M | #23 | |
| gpt-oss-120b (free) | OpenAI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | #33 | |
| Laguna XS.2 (free) | Poolside | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | #47 | |
| GLM 4.5 Air (free) | Z.ai | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | #50 | |
| gpt-oss-20b (free) | OpenAI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | #67 | |
| Gemma 4 31B (free) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | #68 | ||
| Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 256K | #75 | |
| Kimi K2.6 (free) | MoonshotAI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | #83 | |
| Nemotron 3 Nano Omni (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 256K | #94 | |
| Nemotron Nano 9B V2 (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 128K | #105 | |
| Nemotron Nano 12B 2 VL (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 128K | #107 | |
| Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | #140 | ||
| NewNemotron 3.5 Content Safety (free) | NVIDIA | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 128K | #181 | |
| LFM2.5-1.2B-Thinking (free) | LiquidAI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 32.77K | #184 | |
| LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct (free) | LiquidAI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 32.77K | #195 | |
| Qwen3 Next 80B A3B Instruct (free) | Qwen | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | #210 | |
| Llama 3.3 70B Instruct (free) | Meta | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | #213 | |
| Uncensored (free) | Venice | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 32.77K | #242 | |
| Hermes 3 405B Instruct (free) | Nous | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | #257 | |
| Llama 3.2 3B Instruct (free) | Meta | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | #258 | |
| Lyria 3 Pro Preview | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1.05M | #283 | ||
| Lyria 3 Clip Preview | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1.05M | #291 | ||
| NewNorth Mini Code (free) | Cohere | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 256K | ||
| NewKimi K2.7 Code (free) | MoonshotAI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | ||
| NewNex-N2-Pro (free) | Nex AGI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | ||
| CoBuddy (free) | Baidu Qianfan | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 131.07K | ||
| DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) | DeepSeek | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1.05M | ||
| Trinity Large Thinking (free) | Arcee AI | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 262.14K | ||
| MiniMax M2.5 (free) | MiniMax | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 204.8K | ||
| Free Models Router | OpenRouter | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 200K | ||
| Qwen3 Coder 480B A35B (free) | Qwen | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | 1.05M | ||
| Ling-2.6-flash | inclusionAI | $0.01 | $0.03 | $0.07 | $0.07 | 262.14K | #43 | |
| Mistral Nemo | Mistral | $0.02 | $0.03 | $0.08 | $0.08 | 131.07K | #39 | |
| Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | Meta | $0.02 | $0.03 | $0.08 | $0.08 | 131.07K | #44 | |
| Llama 3 8B Lunaris | Sao10K | $0.04 | $0.05 | $0.14 | $0.14 | 8.19K | #127 | |
| MythoMax 13B | gryphe | $0.06 | $0.06 | $0.18 | $0.18 | 4.1K | #193 | |
| Mistral Small 3 | Mistral | $0.05 | $0.08 | $0.21 | $0.21 | 32.77K | #138 | |
| Qwen2.5 7B Instruct | Qwen | $0.04 | $0.1 | $0.24 | $0.24 | 131.07K | #106 | |
| Granite 4.0 Micro | IBM | $0.017 | $0.112 | $0.24 | $0.24 | 131K | #225 | |
| Granite 4.1 8B | IBM | $0.05 | $0.1 | $0.25 | $0.25 | 131.07K | #156 | |
| Gemma 3 4B | $0.05 | $0.1 | $0.25 | $0.25 | 131.07K | #158 | ||
| LFM2-24B-A2B | LiquidAI | $0.03 | $0.12 | $0.27 | $0.27 | 128K | #119 | |
| Qwen3 235B A22B Instruct 2507 | Qwen | $0.09 | $0.1 | $0.29 | $0.29 | 262.14K | #27 | |
| Gemma 3n 4B | $0.06 | $0.12 | $0.3 | $0.3 | 32.77K | #199 | ||
| Qwen3 235B A22B Thinking 2507 | Qwen | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.3 | $0.3 | 262.14K | #129 | |
| Ministral 3 3B 2512 | Mistral | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.3 | $0.3 | 131.07K | #149 | |
| GLM 4 32B | Z.ai | $0.1 | $0.1 | $0.3 | $0.3 | 128K | #151 |
Pricing FAQ
How is the sample workload cost calculated?
The sample workload uses 1,000,000 input tokens plus 2,000,000 output tokens, then applies each model's normalized USD price per 1 million tokens.
Why do input and output token prices matter separately?
Many applications are output-token heavy, while retrieval and classification workloads may be input-token heavy. Comparing both prices helps avoid picking a model that is cheap for the wrong workload shape.
Should I verify prices before production use?
Yes. AI Model Matrix normalizes public pricing metadata for comparison, but provider availability, limits, and prices can change. Always verify the final contract or provider dashboard before production use.
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