API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewPerceptron Mk1.5 vs Aion-3.0-Mini

Pick Perceptron Mk1.5 for lower cost; pick Aion-3.0-Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-09-25T18:07:47Z Data confirmed: 2026-09-25T19:08:03Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Perceptron Mk1.5 for lower cost; pick Aion-3.0-Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Perceptron Mk1.5 is estimated at $0.9 vs $1.4 for Aion-3.0-Mini, saving $0.5 (35.7% lower).

Cost-first pickPerceptron Mk1.5

Context-first pickAion-3.0-Mini

Sample savings$0.535.7%

10x traffic gap$5

Aion-3.0-Mini has more context, but Perceptron Mk1.5 saves $0.5 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Perceptron Mk1.5 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Perceptron Mk1.5	Aion-3.0-Mini
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Perceptron Mk1.5	$1.5	$4.2
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Perceptron Mk1.5	$1.65	$2.1
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Perceptron Mk1.5	$7.65	$7.7

Cheaper input Perceptron Mk1.5 $0.15 vs $0.7 / 1M

Perceptron Mk1.5 is $0.55 cheaper per 1M input tokens (78.6% lower; 4.67x difference).

Cheaper output Aion-3.0-Mini $1.5 vs $1.4 / 1M

Aion-3.0-Mini is $0.1 cheaper per 1M output tokens (6.7% lower; 1.07x difference).

Larger context Aion-3.0-Mini 36.86K vs 131.07K

Aion-3.0-Mini has 94.21K more context (3.56x larger).

Sample workload Perceptron Mk1.5 $0.9 vs $1.4

Perceptron Mk1.5 is $0.5 cheaper on the standard workload (35.7% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Perceptron Mk1.5 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Aion-3.0-Mini 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

Perceptron Mk1.5 has the lower input price; Aion-3.0-Mini has the lower output price; Aion-3.0-Mini offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Perceptron Mk1.5 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.9 for Perceptron Mk1.5 and $1.4 for Aion-3.0-Mini.

Best Fit

Choose Perceptron Mk1.5 when you care most about lower input-token price.

Choose Aion-3.0-Mini when you care most about lower output-token price, and larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Perceptron Mk1.5 is estimated at $0.9 vs $1.4 for Aion-3.0-Mini, saving $0.5 (35.7% lower).
Perceptron Mk1.5 is $0.5 cheaper on the standard workload (35.7% lower).
Perceptron Mk1.5 is $0.55 cheaper per 1M input tokens (78.6% lower; 4.67x difference).
Aion-3.0-Mini is $0.1 cheaper per 1M output tokens (6.7% lower; 1.07x difference).
Aion-3.0-Mini has 94.21K more context (3.56x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	NewPerceptron Mk1.5 (Perceptron)	Aion-3.0-Mini (AionLabs)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.15	$0.7
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$1.5	$1.4
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.9	$1.4
Context Window	36.86K	131.07K
Release Date	2026-09-25	2026-07-07

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Perceptron Mk1.5	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Perceptron Mk1.5 is estimated at $0.9 vs $1.4 for Aion-3.0-Mini, saving $0.5 (35.7% lower).
High-volume input processing	Perceptron Mk1.5	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Aion-3.0-Mini	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Aion-3.0-Mini	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

No lower-cost same-provider swap is currently tracked for this pair.

Larger context near this budget

GLM 5.3 Flash offers 1.31M context with $0.12 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 offers 1.31M context with $0.19 sample workload cost.
GLM Flash Latest offers 1.31M context with $0.12 sample workload cost.
GLM Latest offers 1.31M context with $1.44 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

MiMo-V2.6-Pro · Xiaomi · #1
GLM 5.3 Flash · Z.ai · #2
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash · DeepSeek · #3
Hy4 preview · Tencent · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Perceptron catalog

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AionLabs catalog

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Perceptron Mk1.5

Perceptron Mk1.5 is Perceptron's embodied reasoning model for physical agents. It accepts text, image, video, and audio input, and answers with text plus optional structured annotations: points, boxes, polygons, tracks,...

Aion-3.0-Mini

Aion-3.0 Mini is a multi-model roleplaying and storytelling system from AionLabs, built on the DeepSeek family of models. It uses a collaborative generation process in which multiple specialized models each...