API cost decision in 10 seconds

LFM2-24B-A2B vs INTELLECT-3

Pick LFM2-24B-A2B for lower cost; pick INTELLECT-3 only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated: 2026-05-26T11:08:00Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick LFM2-24B-A2B for lower cost; pick INTELLECT-3 only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, LFM2-24B-A2B is estimated at $0.09 vs $0.75 for INTELLECT-3, saving $0.66 (88% lower).

Cost-first pickLFM2-24B-A2B

Context-first pickINTELLECT-3

Sample savings$0.6688%

10x traffic gap$6.6

INTELLECT-3 has more context, but LFM2-24B-A2B saves $0.66 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $6.6. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

LFM2-24B-A2B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	LFM2-24B-A2B	INTELLECT-3
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	LFM2-24B-A2B	$0.21	$1.55
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	LFM2-24B-A2B	$0.15	$1.3
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	LFM2-24B-A2B	$0.63	$5.7

Cheaper input LFM2-24B-A2B $0.03 vs $0.2 / 1M

LFM2-24B-A2B is $0.17 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85% lower; 6.67x difference).

Cheaper output LFM2-24B-A2B $0.12 vs $1.1 / 1M

LFM2-24B-A2B is $0.98 cheaper per 1M output tokens (89.1% lower; 9.17x difference).

Larger context INTELLECT-3 128K vs 131.07K

INTELLECT-3 has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).

Sample workload LFM2-24B-A2B $0.09 vs $0.75

LFM2-24B-A2B is $0.66 cheaper on the standard workload (88% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

LFM2-24B-A2B Calculating… Estimated API cost

INTELLECT-3 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

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

Verdict

LFM2-24B-A2B has the lower input price; LFM2-24B-A2B has the lower output price; INTELLECT-3 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, LFM2-24B-A2B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.09 for LFM2-24B-A2B and $0.75 for INTELLECT-3.

Best Fit

Choose LFM2-24B-A2B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Choose INTELLECT-3 when you care most about larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, LFM2-24B-A2B is estimated at $0.09 vs $0.75 for INTELLECT-3, saving $0.66 (88% lower).
LFM2-24B-A2B is $0.66 cheaper on the standard workload (88% lower).
LFM2-24B-A2B is $0.17 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85% lower; 6.67x difference).
LFM2-24B-A2B is $0.98 cheaper per 1M output tokens (89.1% lower; 9.17x difference).
INTELLECT-3 has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	LFM2-24B-A2B (LiquidAI)	INTELLECT-3 (Prime Intellect)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.03	$0.2
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.12	$1.1
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.09	$0.75
Context Window	128K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-02-25	2025-11-27

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	LFM2-24B-A2B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, LFM2-24B-A2B is estimated at $0.09 vs $0.75 for INTELLECT-3, saving $0.66 (88% lower).
High-volume input processing	LFM2-24B-A2B	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	LFM2-24B-A2B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	INTELLECT-3	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

LFM2.5-1.2B-Thinking (free) can replace LFM2-24B-A2B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
LFM2.5-1.2B-Instruct (free) can replace LFM2-24B-A2B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.87 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

No popular competitor is currently available.

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.

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Provider catalogs

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LiquidAI catalog

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Prime Intellect catalog

Check other Prime Intellect models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.

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LFM2-24B-A2B

LFM2-24B-A2B is the largest model in the LFM2 family of hybrid architectures designed for efficient on-device deployment. Built as a 24B parameter Mixture-of-Experts model with only 2B active parameters per...

INTELLECT-3

INTELLECT-3 is a 106B-parameter Mixture-of-Experts model (12B active) post-trained from GLM-4.5-Air-Base using supervised fine-tuning (SFT) followed by large-scale reinforcement learning (RL). It offers state-of-the-art performance for its size across math,...