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Calcemitool

AI API Cost Calculator

Enter how many requests you serve and the average tokens in and out. The calculator prices your workload against the major models, shows cost per request and tells you how many paying users cover the bill.

Your usage

Estimated cost

GPT-5 mini — monthly API spend

$66.00

60,000 requests a month

Cost per request
$0.0011
Annual run rate
$792
Cheapest option
Open-source (hosted)
Break-even users
4

At 2,000 requests a day, GPT-5 mini costs about $66.00 a month. Switching to Open-source (hosted) would cost $16.80 — a difference of $49.20 a month. At $19 per user you need 4 paying users just to cover inference.

Model price comparison

ModelIn / 1MOut / 1MMonthlyYearly
Open-source (hosted)$0.10$0.40$16.80$202
GPT-5 mini$0.25$2.00$66.00$792
Gemini Flash$0.30$2.50$81.60$979
GPT-5$1.25$10.00$330.00$3,960
Gemini Pro$1.25$10.00$330.00$3,960
Claude Sonnet$3.00$15.00$576.00$6,912

List prices are indicative and change often — check your provider's pricing page before budgeting.

Worked example

A support assistant answers 2,000 requests a day with 1,200 input tokens and 400 output tokens each. That is 60,000 requests a month: 72 million input tokens and 24 million output tokens. On a model priced at $0.25 per million input and $2 per million output the bill is (72 × $0.25) + (24 × $2) = $18 + $48 = $66 a month, or about $0.0011 a request. At $19 a seat you need one paying customer to cover inference.

How the maths works

Cost = (monthly requests × input tokens × input price ÷ 1,000,000) + (monthly requests × output tokens × output price ÷ 1,000,000). Because output tokens usually cost four to ten times more than input, capping response length is normally the fastest lever on your bill.

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Frequently asked questions

Popular next steps — each one is free, instant and explains the maths.

Disclaimer: Calcemitool provides general estimates for information only — this is not financial, tax or investment advice. Real returns, exchange rates and lender charges vary. Confirm any figure with your lender or a qualified adviser before acting on it.

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