LLM Subscription vs API Monthly TCO Calculator
Enter monthly requests, tokens per prompt, reasoning multiplier, cache hit ratio, and tax to see whether a $20/mo plan or pay-as-you-go API costs less.
Quick workload presets
Monthly Token Volume & Break-Even Summary
Total input tokens / mo
12,000,000Total billed output tokens / mo
5,400,000Break-even recommendation
At this volume, a $20/mo flat subscription (or open-weight API) saves money over flagship API rates.| Model / Route | Est. Monthly API Cost | Reference Plan | vs Flat Plan | Offer / Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Google Gemini Flash APILowest In $0.15 · Cache $0.04 · Out $0.60 / 1M | $4.38 | Google AI Pro ($19.99/mo) | API saves $15.61 | Browse free APIs |
DeepSeek / Qwen3 Open API (Novita) In $0.27 · Cache $0.14 · Out $1.10 / 1M | $8.40 | $0 base fee | $0 base fee | View Novita credit offer |
Multi-Model Pay-Per-Prompt (NanoGPT) In $0.30 · Cache $0.15 · Out $1.20 / 1M | $9.18 | $0 base fee | $0 base fee | Try NanoGPT pay-per-prompt |
OpenAI Flagship API In $2.50 · Cache $1.25 · Out $10.00 / 1M | $76.50 | ChatGPT Plus ($20/mo) | Plan saves $56.50 | Compare LLM API tiers |
Claude Fable / Sonnet (Official API) In $3.00 · Cache $0.30 · Out $15.00 / 1M | $100.80 | Claude Pro ($20/mo) | Plan saves $80.80 | Compare LLM API tiers |
Methodology & Billing Notes
- Rates reflect published USD prices per 1M tokens; verify final billing on each provider's pricing page.
- Reasoning models bill hidden thinking tokens at the output token rate—use 2.5x or higher for reasoning-heavy tasks.
- Consumer chat subscriptions ($20/mo) and developer API console billing are metered separately.
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