Granite 4.0 Micro is $0.66 cheaper per 1M input tokens (97.5% lower; 40x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
Qianfan-OCR-Fast vs Granite 4.0 Micro
Pick Granite 4.0 Micro when budget and context both matter.
Pricing data updated:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Granite 4.0 Micro when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.0 Micro is estimated at $0.07 vs $2.08 for Qianfan-OCR-Fast, saving $2.01 (96.5% lower).
Cost-first pickGranite 4.0 Micro
Context-first pickGranite 4.0 Micro
Sample savings$2.0196.5%
10x traffic gap$20.12
Granite 4.0 Micro is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $20.12. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Granite 4.0 Micro stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Qianfan-OCR-Fast | Granite 4.0 Micro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Granite 4.0 Micro | $4.81 | $0.14 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Granite 4.0 Micro | $3.49 | $0.13 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Granite 4.0 Micro | $14.73 | $0.58 |
Granite 4.0 Micro is $2.7 cheaper per 1M output tokens (96% lower; 25.1x difference).
Granite 4.0 Micro has 65.46K more context (2x larger).
Granite 4.0 Micro is $2.01 cheaper on the standard workload (96.5% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
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.
Quick Decision
Granite 4.0 Micro has the lower input price; Granite 4.0 Micro has the lower output price; Granite 4.0 Micro offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Granite 4.0 Micro is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $2.08 for Qianfan-OCR-Fast and $0.07 for Granite 4.0 Micro.
Choose Qianfan-OCR-Fast when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
Choose Granite 4.0 Micro when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.0 Micro is estimated at $0.07 vs $2.08 for Qianfan-OCR-Fast, saving $2.01 (96.5% lower).
- Granite 4.0 Micro is $2.01 cheaper on the standard workload (96.5% lower).
- Granite 4.0 Micro is $0.66 cheaper per 1M input tokens (97.5% lower; 40x difference).
- Granite 4.0 Micro is $2.7 cheaper per 1M output tokens (96% lower; 25.1x difference).
- Granite 4.0 Micro has 65.46K more context (2x larger).
| Feature | Qianfan-OCR-Fast (Baidu) | Granite 4.0 Micro (IBM) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.68 | $0.017 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $2.81 | $0.112 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $2.08 | $0.07 |
| Context Window | 65.54K | 131K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Granite 4.0 Micro | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.0 Micro is estimated at $0.07 vs $2.08 for Qianfan-OCR-Fast, saving $2.01 (96.5% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Granite 4.0 Micro | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Granite 4.0 Micro | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Granite 4.0 Micro | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B Thinking can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.21.
- ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.21.
- ERNIE 4.5 VL 28B A3B can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.42.
- ERNIE 4.5 300B A47B can replace Qianfan-OCR-Fast when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.83.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite offers 1.05M context with $1 sample workload cost.
- No popular competitor is currently available.
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
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Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
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Open provider hubsBaidu catalog
Review all tracked Baidu models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open Baidu modelsIBM catalog
Check other IBM models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open IBM modelsQianfan-OCR-Fast is a domain-specific multimodal large model purpose-built for OCR. By leveraging specialized OCR training data while preserving versatile multimodal intelligence, it provides a powerful performance upgrade over Qianfan-OCR.
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