OpenAI pricing guide
OpenAI API Pricing Explained: Tokens, Cache, Batch, and Cost
OpenAI products use several billing units. Text generation separates input and output tokens, embeddings price input volume, image generation varies by output settings, and transcription can be planned by audio duration.
Separate standard, cached, and batch usage
Standard input is the normal prompt rate. Eligible cached input can be cheaper, while batch processing can offer different rates in exchange for asynchronous completion. Do not apply a discount unless the workload actually qualifies.
For chat and agent workloads, output tokens can dominate because their published rate is often higher. Track the input-to-output ratio in production rather than optimizing only prompt size.
Use the billing unit for each modality
An image estimate should preserve model, size, and quality. An embedding estimate should include re-embedding frequency, and transcription should include total audio minutes plus any provider rounding rule.
Worked example
GPT-4.1 mini: 1M input tokens + 1M output tokens
Using the versioned rates below, this example workload is estimated at $2.00. This isolates provider usage only and does not include taxes, regional premiums, retries, storage, network traffic, or unrelated infrastructure.
Current pricing references
These versioned records support the examples above. Check the date and provider source before using them in a production forecast.
| Provider / model | Input or unit | Output | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
OpenAI GPT-4.1 mini | $0.40 per 1M tokens | $1.60 / 1M | Verified | OpenAI model pricing Checked Jun 21, 2026 |
OpenAI GPT-4.1 | $2.00 per 1M tokens | $8.00 / 1M | Verified | OpenAI model pricing Checked Jun 21, 2026 |
OpenAI text-embedding-3-small | $0.02 per 1M tokens | — | Verified | OpenAI embedding model pricing Checked Jun 21, 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
Is the OpenAI API a fixed monthly subscription?
API billing is generally usage based and separate from consumer ChatGPT subscriptions. Verify account-specific terms and service tiers.
Should I include cached input in every estimate?
No. Use standard input pricing until you have measured cache eligibility and hit rate for the production prompt pattern.
Related calculators and guides
Related glossary terms
Input tokens
Input tokens are the tokenized units sent to a model, including instructions, user content, conversation history, retrieved context, and tool definitions.
OpenOutput tokens
Output tokens are the tokenized units generated by a language model, including visible responses and any billable reasoning or thinking tokens defined by the provider.
OpenCost per request
Cost per request is the sum of all billable usage generated by one API call, commonly input token cost plus output token cost for a text model.
Open