2. Code Generation
~2,000 input tokens → ~1,000 output tokensGenerate a 200-line function with comments, error handling, and types. Typical Copilot-style completion.
| Model | Cost per Generation | 100/day (3K/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.0006 | $1.80 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.00084 | $2.52 |
| GPT-4o | $0.0125 | $37.50 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.021 | $63.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | $0.035 | $105.00 |
Best choice: Gemini Flash or DeepSeek for autocomplete. For complex code review, GPT-4o at $37.50/month is the quality/cost sweet spot.
3. Chatbot Conversation Turn
~1,000 input tokens → ~500 output tokensOne exchange in a customer support or FAQ chatbot — user message + context, bot response.
| Model | Cost per Turn | 10K conversations/day |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.0003 | $9.00 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.00028 | $8.40 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.0009 | $27.00 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.0035 | $105.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.0105 | $315.00 |
Best choice: DeepSeek V4 Flash at $8.40/month for 10K conversations/day. Even at high volume, budget models keep costs under $30.
4. Structured Data Extraction
~1,500 input tokens → ~300 output tokensExtract names, dates, amounts, or categories from unstructured text into JSON.
| Model | Cost per Extraction | 10K documents/month |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.00023 | $2.25 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.00030 | $3.00 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.00068 | $6.75 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.009 | $90.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | $0.0128 | $127.50 |
Best choice: Gemini Flash or DeepSeek for bulk extraction. At $2-3/month for 10K documents, even indie projects can afford structured extraction.
5. Email Drafting
~800 input tokens → ~400 output tokensDraft a professional email from a brief prompt. Sales outreach, support reply, or internal update.
| Model | Cost per Email | 500/day (15K/month) |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.00024 | $3.60 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.00027 | $4.05 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.00072 | $10.80 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.0084 | $126.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | $0.014 | $210.00 |
Best choice: Any budget model handles email well. DeepSeek at $4.05/month for 500 emails/day is the sweet spot for quality vs cost.
6. Content Classification / Sentiment Analysis
~500 input tokens → ~50 output tokensClassify support tickets, categorize feedback, or analyze sentiment. Short input, tiny output.
| Model | Cost per Classification | 50K items/month |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.00005 | $2.63 |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.00007 | $3.50 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.00038 | $18.75 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.00021 | $10.50 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 | $0.0028 | $137.50 |
Best choice: Gemini Flash Lite — the cheapest model at $0.075/M input. At $2.63/month for 50K classifications, this is almost free.
7. Translation (1 page)
~1,500 input tokens → ~1,500 output tokensTranslate a one-page document between languages. 1:1 token ratio for translation tasks.
| Model | Cost per Page | 1K pages/month |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.00075 | $0.75 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.00063 | $0.63 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.00315 | $3.15 |
| Mistral Small 4 | $0.00293 | $2.93 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.027 | $27.00 |
Best choice: DeepSeek V4 Flash — symmetric pricing means input and output cost the same. $0.63/month for 1K pages.
8. RAG / Document Q&A
~4,000 input tokens (context + question) → ~500 output tokensAnswer a question using retrieved context from your knowledge base. Typical RAG pipeline output.
| Model | Cost per Query | 5K queries/day |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.0006 | $90.00 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.0007 | $105.00 |
| GPT-4o | $0.015 | $2,250 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.0195 | $2,925 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | $0.0325 | $4,875 |
Best choice: RAG is token-heavy (lots of context). Budget models save 98% vs premium. Gemini Flash at $90/month vs Opus at $4,875/month — for the same queries.
9. Image Description / Alt Text Generation
~1,000 input tokens (image embedding) → ~200 output tokensGenerate descriptive alt text or captions for images. Multimodal input, short text output.
| Model | Cost per Image | 5K images/day |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.00018 | $27.00 |
| GPT-4o mini | $0.00055 | $82.50 |
| GPT-4o | $0.0045 | $675.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.006 | $900.00 |
Best choice: Gemini Flash is the cheapest multimodal model. Not all models support image input — check compatibility before choosing.
10. AI Agent / Multi-Step Reasoning
~3,000 input tokens → ~1,500 output tokens per step, ~5 stepsAn AI agent that plans, executes, and iterates. Each "thought" is a full API call with context.
| Model | Cost per Task | 100 tasks/day |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite | $0.0045 | $135.00 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | $0.0042 | $126.00 |
| GPT-5 mini | $0.0188 | $562.50 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | $0.0675 | $2,025 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | $0.1125 | $3,375 |
Best choice: Agents are the most expensive use case because they multiply token usage. Use budget models for simple steps, premium for complex reasoning.
The Cost Matrix: Quick Reference
Here's every task on every provider at a glance. Numbers show cost per single operation.
| Task | Gemini Flash | DeepSeek V4F | GPT-4o mini | Sonnet 4.6 | Opus 4.8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Document Summary | $0.00075 | $0.00109 | $0.00285 | $0.0225 | $0.0375 |
| Code Generation | $0.0006 | $0.00084 | $0.003 | $0.021 | $0.035 |
| Chatbot Turn | $0.0003 | $0.00028 | $0.0009 | $0.0105 | $0.0175 |
| Data Extraction | $0.00023 | $0.0003 | $0.00068 | $0.009 | $0.0128 |
| Email Drafting | $0.00024 | $0.00027 | $0.00072 | $0.0084 | $0.014 |
| Classification | $0.00007 | $0.00021 | $0.00038 | $0.0023 | $0.0038 |
| Translation | $0.00075 | $0.00063 | $0.00315 | $0.027 | $0.045 |
| RAG Q&A | $0.0006 | $0.0007 | $0.0045 | $0.0195 | $0.0325 |
| Image Description | $0.00018 | — | $0.00055 | $0.006 | $0.01 |
| Agent (5 steps) | $0.0045 | $0.0042 | $0.0188 | $0.0675 | $0.1125 |
Key Takeaways
- Budget models are 10-50x cheaper than premium models for most tasks. Use Gemini Flash or DeepSeek V4 Flash for high-volume, routine work.
- Agents are the most expensive use case. Each "step" is a full API call — multiply your per-call cost by the number of reasoning steps.
- RAG is token-heavy. Sending 4K tokens of context per query adds up fast. Consider caching frequent queries.
- The cheapest provider changes by task. Gemini Flash wins on summarization, DeepSeek wins on chat and translation. There's no single "cheapest" model.
- Premium models are worth it for complex reasoning. Claude Opus and GPT-5.5 shine on tasks that require deep understanding, not just pattern matching.
Calculate Your Exact Costs
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