API cost decision in 10 seconds

NewFlint (free) vs Fugu Max

Pick Flint (free) for lower cost; pick Fugu Max only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-10-21T21:07:30Z Data confirmed: 2026-10-21T22:07:19Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Flint (free) for lower cost; pick Fugu Max only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Flint (free) is estimated at $0 vs $5 for Fugu Max, saving $5 (100% lower).

Cost-first pickFlint (free)

Context-first pickFugu Max

Sample savings$5100%

10x traffic gap$50

Fugu Max has more context, but Flint (free) saves $5 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $50. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Flint (free) stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	Flint (free)	Fugu Max
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Flint (free)	$0	$13
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Flint (free)	$0	$8
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Flint (free)	$0	$32

Cheaper input Flint (free) $0 vs $2 / 1M

Flint (free) is free for input tokens while Fugu Max costs $2 per 1M tokens.

Cheaper output Flint (free) $0 vs $6 / 1M

Flint (free) is free for output tokens while Fugu Max costs $6 per 1M tokens.

Larger context Fugu Max 262.14K vs 1M

Fugu Max has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Sample workload Flint (free) $0 vs $5

Flint (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $5.

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

Flint (free) Calculating… Estimated API cost

Fugu Max 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

Flint (free) has the lower input price; Flint (free) has the lower output price; Fugu Max offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Flint (free) is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0 for Flint (free) and $5 for Fugu Max.

Best Fit

Choose Flint (free) when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Choose Fugu Max when you care most about larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Flint (free) is estimated at $0 vs $5 for Fugu Max, saving $5 (100% lower).
Flint (free) is free for the standard workload while the other model is estimated at $5.
Flint (free) is free for input tokens while Fugu Max costs $2 per 1M tokens.
Flint (free) is free for output tokens while Fugu Max costs $6 per 1M tokens.
Fugu Max has 737.86K more context (3.81x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	NewFlint (free) (Recursive)	Fugu Max (Sakana)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0	$2
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0	$6
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0	$5
Context Window	262.14K	1M
Release Date	2026-10-19	2026-09-11

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Flint (free)	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Flint (free) is estimated at $0 vs $5 for Fugu Max, saving $5 (100% lower).
High-volume input processing	Flint (free)	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Flint (free)	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Fugu Max	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

Sakana Namazu can replace Fugu Max when lower sample workload cost matters most: $2.95.

Larger context near this budget

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Llama 4 Scout offers 1.31M context with $0.25 sample workload cost.
MiMo-V2.6-Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.28 sample workload cost.

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Cheaper alternatives

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

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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

Recursive catalog

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

Open Recursive models

Sakana catalog

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

Open Sakana models

Flint (free)

Flint is an open-weight mixture-of-experts model from Recursive, with about 2.5B active parameters out of 40B total, built by Recursive's autoresearch system Eureka Machine for coding agents. It is suited...

Fugu Max

Fugu Max is the cost-performance model in Sakana AI's Fugu family. Rather than a single monolithic model, Fugu is a learned multi-agent orchestration system: a language model trained to route...