Granite 4.1 8B is $1.2 cheaper per 1M input tokens (96% lower; 25x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
NewGranite 4.1 8B vs GPT-5.1 Chat
Pick Granite 4.1 8B when budget and context both matter.
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Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Granite 4.1 8B when budget and context both matter.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.1 8B is estimated at $0.1 vs $6.25 for GPT-5.1 Chat, saving $6.15 (98.4% lower).
Cost-first pickGranite 4.1 8B
Context-first pickGranite 4.1 8B
Sample savings$6.1598.4%
10x traffic gap$61.5
Granite 4.1 8B is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $61.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Granite 4.1 8B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | Granite 4.1 8B | GPT-5.1 Chat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Granite 4.1 8B | $0.3 | $11.25 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Granite 4.1 8B | $0.15 | $11.25 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Granite 4.1 8B | $0.55 | $51.25 |
Granite 4.1 8B is $9.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99% lower; 100x difference).
Granite 4.1 8B has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).
Granite 4.1 8B is $6.15 cheaper on the standard workload (98.4% 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 4.1 8B has the lower input price; Granite 4.1 8B has the lower output price; Granite 4.1 8B offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Granite 4.1 8B is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.1 for Granite 4.1 8B and $6.25 for GPT-5.1 Chat.
Choose Granite 4.1 8B when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.
Choose GPT-5.1 Chat when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.1 8B is estimated at $0.1 vs $6.25 for GPT-5.1 Chat, saving $6.15 (98.4% lower).
- Granite 4.1 8B is $6.15 cheaper on the standard workload (98.4% lower).
- Granite 4.1 8B is $1.2 cheaper per 1M input tokens (96% lower; 25x difference).
- Granite 4.1 8B is $9.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (99% lower; 100x difference).
- Granite 4.1 8B has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).
| Feature | NewGranite 4.1 8B (IBM) | GPT-5.1 Chat (OpenAI) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $0.05 | $1.25 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $0.1 | $10 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $0.1 | $6.25 |
| Context Window | 131.07K | 128K |
| Release Date |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Granite 4.1 8B | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Granite 4.1 8B is estimated at $0.1 vs $6.25 for GPT-5.1 Chat, saving $6.15 (98.4% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Granite 4.1 8B | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Granite 4.1 8B | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | Granite 4.1 8B | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- Granite 4.0 Micro can replace Granite 4.1 8B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.07.
- gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.1 Chat when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.1 Chat when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.1 Chat when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 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.
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Open OpenAI modelsGranite 4.1 8B is a dense, decoder-only 8-billion-parameter language model from IBM, part of the Granite 4.1 family. It supports a 131K-token context window and is designed for enterprise tasks...
GPT-5.1 Chat (AKA Instant is the fast, lightweight member of the 5.1 family, optimized for low-latency chat while retaining strong general intelligence. It uses adaptive reasoning to selectively “think” on...