API cost decision in 10 seconds

GPT-5.4 Nano vs R1 0528

Pick GPT-5.4 Nano when budget and context both matter.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T18:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick GPT-5.4 Nano when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.4 Nano is estimated at $0.82 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.75 (47.6% lower).

Cost-first pickGPT-5.4 Nano

Context-first pickGPT-5.4 Nano

Sample savings$0.7547.6%

10x traffic gap$7.5

GPT-5.4 Nano is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $7.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

GPT-5.4 Nano stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GPT-5.4 Nano	R1 0528
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	GPT-5.4 Nano	$1.62	$3.58
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	GPT-5.4 Nano	$1.45	$2.65
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	GPT-5.4 Nano	$6.45	$11.25

Cheaper input GPT-5.4 Nano $0.2 vs $0.5 / 1M

GPT-5.4 Nano is $0.3 cheaper per 1M input tokens (60% lower; 2.5x difference).

Cheaper output GPT-5.4 Nano $1.25 vs $2.15 / 1M

GPT-5.4 Nano is $0.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (41.9% lower; 1.72x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.4 Nano 400K vs 163.84K

GPT-5.4 Nano has 236.16K more context (2.44x larger).

Sample workload GPT-5.4 Nano $0.82 vs $1.57

GPT-5.4 Nano is $0.75 cheaper on the standard workload (47.6% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GPT-5.4 Nano Calculating… Estimated API cost

R1 0528 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

GPT-5.4 Nano has the lower input price; GPT-5.4 Nano has the lower output price; GPT-5.4 Nano offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, GPT-5.4 Nano is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.82 for GPT-5.4 Nano and $1.57 for R1 0528.

Best Fit

Choose GPT-5.4 Nano when you care most about lower input-token price, lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Choose R1 0528 when its provider, model quality, latency, or availability is more important than the numeric price/context winner.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.4 Nano is estimated at $0.82 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.75 (47.6% lower).
GPT-5.4 Nano is $0.75 cheaper on the standard workload (47.6% lower).
GPT-5.4 Nano is $0.3 cheaper per 1M input tokens (60% lower; 2.5x difference).
GPT-5.4 Nano is $0.9 cheaper per 1M output tokens (41.9% lower; 1.72x difference).
GPT-5.4 Nano has 236.16K more context (2.44x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	GPT-5.4 Nano (OpenAI)	R1 0528 (DeepSeek)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.2	$0.5
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$1.25	$2.15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.82	$1.57
Context Window	400K	163.84K
Release Date	2026-03-17	2025-05-28
Popularity	#32	#106

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	GPT-5.4 Nano	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, GPT-5.4 Nano is estimated at $0.82 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $0.75 (47.6% lower).
High-volume input processing	GPT-5.4 Nano	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	GPT-5.4 Nano	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GPT-5.4 Nano	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.4 Nano when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.4 Nano when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.4 Nano when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.4 Nano when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.13.

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 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.87 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.

Open cheapest models

Larger context alternatives

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

Open largest context models

Provider catalogs

Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.

Open provider hubs

OpenAI catalog

Review all tracked OpenAI models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.

Open OpenAI models

DeepSeek catalog

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

Open DeepSeek models

GPT-5.4 Nano

GPT-5.4 nano is the most lightweight and cost-efficient variant of the GPT-5.4 family, optimized for speed-critical and high-volume tasks. It supports text and image inputs and is designed for low-latency...

R1 0528

May 28th update to the [original DeepSeek R1](/deepseek/deepseek-r1) Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active...