AI Article Cost Calculator

A 1,500-word article costs between $0.00080 (GPT-5 nano) and $0.3627 (GPT-5.4 Pro) in API fees. On a mid-tier model like Claude Sonnet 5 it is $0.0203 — about $2.03 for 100 articles a month.

Set your article length and workflow, and see exactly what one piece costs across 55 models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and DeepSeek — then what that becomes at 100 articles a month.

Every tracked price re-checked weekly · verified 2026-09-24 against each provider's own pricing page · list rates, USD per million tokens · how we calculate this · what's changed

Article length and workflow

Article length

1,500 words

Brief & context length ?

250 words

Drafts per article

Model

Articles per month

Pricing assumptions and discounts

Prompt overhead Add 20% to input for system prompt & formatting Iterative revision Each redraft re-sends the previous draft as input

Processing tier

Normal synchronous pricing

Budget DeepSeek at off-peak rates

Peak: 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday–Friday. All other hours, including the entire weekend, are off-peak at half price. Applies only to DeepSeek rows, for a planned off-peak workload.

Prompt caching 50% of input served from cache

Advanced

Tokens per word 1.30 English prose averages ~1.3. Raise it for code, markup or non-Latin scripts.

Freelance rate ($/word)

What does the estimate buy? Compare real AI-written article examples, then allow for editing and research.

Claude Sonnet 5 · rank 34 of 55 $0.0203 per article

10 articles: $0.2028
100 articles: $2.03
Per month: $2.03
Per year: $24.34

How many tokens a 1,500-word article uses all drafts

Input: —; —
Output: —; —
Total: —; —

AI vs freelance writer cost

Not a like-for-like replacement cost. The AI figure is raw API draft generation only. The human figure may include research, editing, fact-checking, strategy and accountability, which this calculator does not price.

Human —

—

This model —

Every model, ranked by cost per article

GPT-5 nano

$0.00080

GPT-4.1 nano

$0.00082

Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite

$0.00082

GPT-6 Luna

$0.00101

GPT-4o mini

$0.00123

GPT-5.6 Luna

$0.00242

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash

$0.00246

GPT-5.4 nano

$0.00252

Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite

$0.00302

GPT-4.1 mini

$0.00328

GPT-5 mini

$0.00400

Grok Build 0.1

$0.00429

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite

$0.00499

Gemini 2.5 Flash

$0.00499

Grok 4.3

$0.00536

Grok 4.20 Reasoning

$0.00536

Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning

$0.00536

Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent

$0.00536

Gemini 3.8 Flash

$0.00760

Gemini 3.7 Flash

$0.00760

Gemini 3.6 Flash

$0.00760

DeepSeek V4 Pro

$0.00824

GPT-5.4 mini

$0.00907

Claude Haiku 4.5

$0.0101

Grok 4.7

$0.0125

Grok 4.6

$0.0125

Grok 4.5

$0.0125

GPT-4.1

$0.0164

Gemini 3.5 Flash

$0.0181

GPT-5.1

$0.0200

GPT-5

$0.0200

Gemini 2.5 Pro

$0.0200

Claude Sonnet 5.5

$0.0203

Claude Sonnet 5

$0.0203

GPT-6 Sol

$0.0203

GPT-4o

$0.0205

GPT-5.6 Terra

$0.0242

Gemini 3.1 Pro

$0.0242

GPT-5.2

$0.0280

GPT-5.4

$0.0302

Claude Sonnet 4.6

$0.0304

Claude Opus 5.5

$0.0406

GPT-5.6 Sol

$0.0406

Claude Opus 5

$0.0507

Claude Opus 4.8

$0.0507

GPT-5.5

$0.0604

Claude Fable 5.1

$0.1014

Claude Fable 5

$0.1014

GPT-6 Astra

$0.1014

GPT-5.6 Cyber

$0.1511

GPT-5.5 Cyber

$0.1511

GPT-5 Pro

$0.2398

GPT-5.2 Pro

$0.3358

GPT-5.5 Pro

$0.3627

GPT-5.4 Pro

$0.3627

Cost by article length cheapest models, current settings

Model	500w	1,000w	1,500w	2,000w	3,000w	5,000w
GPT-5 nano	$0.00028	$0.00054	$0.00080	$0.00106	$0.00158	$0.00262
GPT-4.1 nano	$0.00030	$0.00056	$0.00082	$0.00108	$0.00160	$0.00264
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite	$0.00030	$0.00056	$0.00082	$0.00108	$0.00160	$0.00264
GPT-6 Luna	$0.00036	$0.00069	$0.00101	$0.00134	$0.00199	$0.00329
GPT-4o mini	$0.00045	$0.00084	$0.00123	$0.00162	$0.00240	$0.00396
GPT-5.6 Luna	$0.00086	$0.00164	$0.00242	$0.00320	$0.00476	$0.00788

Reference: list prices USD per million tokens

Model	Provider	Input	Cached in	Output	Context
GPT-5 nano	OpenAI	$0.05	$0.005	$0.40	400K
GPT-4.1 nano	OpenAI	$0.10	$0.025	$0.40	1,047.576K
Gemini 2.5 Flash-Lite	Google	$0.10	$0.010	$0.40	1,000K
GPT-6 Luna¹	OpenAI	$0.10	$0.010	$0.50	1,050K
GPT-4o mini	OpenAI	$0.15	$0.075	$0.60	128K
GPT-5.6 Luna²	OpenAI	$0.20	$0.020	$1.20	1,050K
GPT-5.4 nano	OpenAI	$0.20	$0.020	$1.25	400K
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite³	Google	$0.25	$0.025	$1.50	1,000K
GPT-5 mini	OpenAI	$0.25	$0.025	$2.00	400K
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash⁴	DeepSeek	$0.30	$0.006	$1.20	1,000K
Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite	Google	$0.30	$0.030	$2.50	1,000K
Gemini 2.5 Flash	Google	$0.30	$0.030	$2.50	1,000K
GPT-4.1 mini	OpenAI	$0.40	$0.100	$1.60	1,047.576K
Gemini 3.8 Flash⁵	Google	$0.75	$0.075	$3.75	1,000K
Gemini 3.7 Flash⁶	Google	$0.75	$0.075	$3.75	1,000K
Gemini 3.6 Flash⁷	Google	$0.75	$0.075	$3.75	1,000K
GPT-5.4 mini	OpenAI	$0.75	$0.075	$4.50	400K
Grok Build 0.1⁸	xAI	$1.00	$0.200	$2.00	256K
Claude Haiku 4.5	Anthropic	$1.00	$0.100	$5.00	200K
Grok 4.3⁹	xAI	$1.25	$0.200	$2.50	1,000K
Grok 4.20 Reasoning¹⁰	xAI	$1.25	$0.200	$2.50	1,000K
Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning¹¹	xAI	$1.25	$0.200	$2.50	1,000K
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent¹²	xAI	$1.25	$0.200	$2.50	1,000K
GPT-5.1	OpenAI	$1.25	$0.125	$10.00	400K
GPT-5	OpenAI	$1.25	$0.125	$10.00	400K
Gemini 2.5 Pro¹³	Google	$1.25	$0.125	$10.00	1,000K
DeepSeek V4 Pro¹⁴	DeepSeek	$1.32	$0.044	$3.96	1,000K
Gemini 3.5 Flash	Google	$1.50	$0.150	$9.00	1,000K
GPT-5.2	OpenAI	$1.75	$0.175	$14.00	400K
Grok 4.7¹⁵	xAI	$2.00	$0.500	$6.00	500K
Grok 4.6¹⁶	xAI	$2.00	$0.500	$6.00	500K
Grok 4.5¹⁷	xAI	$2.00	$0.300	$6.00	500K
GPT-4.1	OpenAI	$2.00	$0.500	$8.00	1,047.576K
Claude Sonnet 5.5	Anthropic	$2.00	$0.200	$10.00	1,000K
Claude Sonnet 5	Anthropic	$2.00	$0.200	$10.00	1,000K
GPT-6 Sol¹⁸	OpenAI	$2.00	$0.200	$10.00	1,050K
GPT-5.6 Terra¹⁹	OpenAI	$2.00	$0.200	$12.00	1,050K
Gemini 3.1 Pro²⁰	Google	$2.00	$0.200	$12.00	1,000K
GPT-4o	OpenAI	$2.50	$1.250	$10.00	128K
GPT-5.4²¹	OpenAI	$2.50	$0.250	$15.00	1,050K
Claude Sonnet 4.6	Anthropic	$3.00	$0.300	$15.00	1,000K
Claude Opus 5.5	Anthropic	$4.00	$0.200	$20.00	1,000K
GPT-5.6 Sol²²	OpenAI	$4.00	$0.400	$20.00	1,050K
Claude Opus 5	Anthropic	$5.00	$0.500	$25.00	1,000K
Claude Opus 4.8	Anthropic	$5.00	$0.500	$25.00	1,000K
GPT-5.5²³	OpenAI	$5.00	$0.500	$30.00	1,050K
Claude Fable 5.1	Anthropic	$10.00	$0.250	$50.00	1,000K
Claude Fable 5	Anthropic	$10.00	$1.000	$50.00	1,000K
GPT-6 Astra²⁴	OpenAI	$10.00	$1.000	$50.00	1,050K
GPT-5.6 Cyber²⁵	OpenAI	$12.50	$1.250	$75.00	1,050K
GPT-5.5 Cyber²⁶	OpenAI	$12.50	$1.250	$75.00	1,050K
GPT-5 Pro	OpenAI	$15.00	—	$120.00	400K
GPT-5.2 Pro	OpenAI	$21.00	—	$168.00	400K
GPT-5.5 Pro	OpenAI	$30.00	—	$180.00	400K
GPT-5.4 Pro	OpenAI	$30.00	—	$180.00	1,050K

GPT-6 Luna: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
GPT-5.6 Luna: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Text, image and video input rate; audio input is $0.50.
DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: Peak rate. DeepSeek halves every rate outside peak hours (01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday–Friday; weekends are entirely off-peak) — off-peak this model is $0.15 input, $0.60 output, $0.003 cached.
Gemini 3.8 Flash: Promotional rate through 2026-12-31; $1.50 / $7.50 from 2027-01-01.
Gemini 3.7 Flash: Promotional rate through 2026-12-31; $1.50 / $7.50 from 2027-01-01.
Gemini 3.6 Flash: Promotional rate through 2026-12-31; $1.50 / $7.50 from 2027-01-01.
Grok Build 0.1: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $2.00 / $4.00 at or above that.
Grok 4.3: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $2.50 / $5.00 at or above that.
Grok 4.20 Reasoning: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $2.50 / $5.00 at or above that.
Grok 4.20 Non-Reasoning: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $2.50 / $5.00 at or above that.
Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $2.50 / $5.00 at or above that.
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Rate shown is for prompts up to 200K tokens; $2.50 / $15.00 above that.
DeepSeek V4 Pro: Peak rate. DeepSeek halves every rate outside peak hours (01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC, Monday–Friday; weekends are entirely off-peak) — off-peak this model is $0.66 input, $1.98 output, $0.022 cached.
Grok 4.7: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $4.00 / $12.00 at or above that.
Grok 4.6: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $4.00 / $12.00 at or above that.
Grok 4.5: Rate shown is for prompts under 200K tokens; $4.00 / $12.00 at or above that.
GPT-6 Sol: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
GPT-5.6 Terra: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
Gemini 3.1 Pro: Rate shown is for prompts up to 200K tokens; $4.00 / $18.00 above that.
GPT-5.4: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
GPT-5.6 Sol: Promotional rate, published as available at least through 2026-11-21; OpenAI has not announced the rate that follows it. Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
GPT-5.5: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
GPT-6 Astra: Prompts over 272K input tokens bill at 2x input / 1.5x output for the whole session.
GPT-5.6 Cyber: Security-focused tier, gated behind the Daybreak program.
GPT-5.5 Cyber: Security-focused tier, gated behind the Daybreak program.

How we calculate AI article costs

Word counts convert to tokens at 1.3 tokens per word, the usual approximation for English prose. Every draft is one API call that produces a full article, so output tokens are words × 1.3 × drafts. Input tokens are the brief re-sent on each call, plus — with iterative revision on — the previous draft handed back for editing, all multiplied by the prompt-overhead percentage. Those two totals are billed at the model's published input and output rates.

Estimates only. Real usage moves with tokenizer differences between providers, reasoning tokens on thinking models, retries, and tool or search calls. Treat the output as a planning figure and check your provider's dashboard for actual spend.

AI article cost comparison chart

Bar chart comparing the API cost of one 1,500-word AI article across seventeen models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and DeepSeek — among them GPT-6 Astra, Claude Sonnet 5, Claude Opus 5, GPT-5.6 Sol, GPT-5.4 mini, Gemini 3.1 Pro, Grok 4.6 and DeepSeek V4 Pro — from $0.00080 on GPT-5 nano to $0.3627 on GPT-5.4 Pro, on a logarithmic scale. — One model from every price tier each provider sells — budget, mid-range, premium and frontier — plus the most expensive model tracked, at 1,500 words and one draft. Rates verified 2026-09-24.

Use this chart on your site — free, no permission needed

Paste this wherever you need it. The only condition is that the attribution link stays. We regenerate the image whenever prices change, so an embed stays current on its own.

<figure>
  <img src="https://aiarticlepricer.com/img/ai-article-cost-comparison.png"
       alt="AI article cost comparison across 55 models"
       width="1200" height="700" loading="lazy">
  <figcaption>
    Source: <a href="https://aiarticlepricer.com/">AI Article Cost Calculator</a>
  </figcaption>
</figure>

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to write a 1,500-word article with AI?

A 1,500-word AI article costs between $0.00080 (GPT-5 nano) and $0.3627 (GPT-5.4 Pro) in API fees, on list prices verified 2026-09-24. A typical mid-range model such as GPT-4.1 costs $0.0164. Extra drafts, revision context, prompt overhead and processing tier move the total; the calculator above applies those choices to every model.

How many tokens is a 1,000-word article?

A 1,000-word English article is approximately 1,300 output tokens using the calculator’s default estimate of 1.3 tokens per word. Code, markup, other languages and provider-specific tokenizers can produce a different count.

Which AI model is cheapest for blog writing?

GPT-5 nano is currently the cheapest tracked model for blog writing, at $0.00080 for a 1,500-word article on prices verified 2026-09-24. It is roughly 454× cheaper than the most expensive option, GPT-5.4 Pro at $0.3627. The cheapest model is not always the best value once editing time is counted — the ranking above recalculates whenever you change length, drafts or tier.

Why are output tokens more expensive than input tokens?

Output tokens usually cost more because generating each new token requires sequential inference, while providers can process input tokens in parallel more efficiently. The exact price ratio varies by model.

Does prompt caching reduce article writing costs?

Prompt caching usually provides limited savings for one-off articles because each article contains fresh context. It helps more when a large shared system prompt, style guide or reference corpus is reused across many requests.

Is the Batch API worth it for content generation?

Batch discounts depend on the model: 50% on supported Claude, OpenAI and Gemini models, and 20% on Grok 4.3 and Grok 4.20. Other tracked Grok models do not support Batch. No Batch tier is published for DeepSeek; DeepSeek offers separate off-peak pricing.

How accurate are these estimates?

These estimates are suitable for planning, not invoice reconciliation. Provider tokenizers, reasoning tokens, retries, tool calls, search use and the amount of revision context can all change the final charge.

Is AI cheaper than hiring a freelance writer?

On raw production cost, yes, and by a wide margin: a 1,500-word article costs $225 from a freelance writer at $0.15 per word, against $0.00080 on the cheapest tracked model. That comparison excludes human research, editing, fact-checking, strategy and accountability, which the API figure does not buy. Use the freelance rate control above to compare your own assumptions.

How often are these prices updated?

Prices are re-verified against Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, xAI and DeepSeek weekly, and when a provider announces a change. The current verification date is 2026-09-24.

Do these prices include reasoning or thinking tokens?

The estimates include the visible input and output tokens in the selected workflow, but not hidden reasoning or thinking tokens. Models that bill those tokens can therefore cost more in real use.

AI Article Cost Calculator

Article length and workflow

Pricing assumptions and discounts

How many tokens a 1,500-word article uses all drafts

AI vs freelance writer cost

Every model, ranked by cost per article

Cost by article length cheapest models, current settings

Reference: list prices USD per million tokens

How we calculate AI article costs

AI article cost comparison chart

Frequently asked questions

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