How do I open the Compare Prices grid?

Two ways: click the 'Compare Prices' tab at the top of the calculator card on the home page, or navigate directly to /tools/compare-prices. The standalone page is also linked from the main navigation under 'Tools'.

Can I share my comparison with teammates?

Yes — the page URL captures the current state. Send the link in Slack and your teammate sees the same grid. Useful for procurement and architecture-review meetings.

Is the data live or cached?

Live from OpenRouter (prices) and a blended Arena AI + Artificial Analysis pipeline (quality), refreshed on a 60-minute incremental cache. So the grid is at most an hour stale.

Where do I go after the grid to project monthly cost?

Once you've picked a winner, go to /tools/api-cost-estimator and plug in the model + your expected monthly token volume. The estimator does the per-1M math against your real workload mix.

Reasoning-Tier LLMs Compared in the Compare Prices Grid

Why a Within-Tier Comparison Beats Cross-Tier

Once you've narrowed a model shortlist on the main TokenRate calculator, the Compare Prices side-by-side view is where you stack them for a decision. Each row shows the provider, the model ID (the one you'd paste into your SDK), per-1M input and output costs, the context window, and the blended quality score. Once you've picked your tier — Reasoning — the next question is which **specific** Reasoning model. Cross-tier comparisons (flagship vs fast) are usually a budgeting question. Within-tier comparisons are routing questions: "of the models built for the same workload class, which is the best fit for mine?" This guide grids OpenAI o3, OpenAI o3-mini, DeepSeek R1 side-by-side in /tools/compare-prices. Related reading: quality per dollar LLM ranking 2026, LLM color-coded quality badges explained, and why the cheapest LLM isn't always the best value.

Reasoning Tier Defined

Reasoning tier on TokenRate means: reasoning tier uses chain-of-thought and costs more per output token but answers harder questions correctly. Input prices typically span $0.550 to $10.00 per 1M tokens within the tier. Quality scores span 72 to 86. So even within the tier, the Value column will diverge — which is the whole point of comparing within-tier instead of just defaulting to whichever model is most familiar.

The Reasoning Models, Compared

**OpenAI o3** (OpenAI): $10.00 / $40.00, 200K ctx, Q86, value 8.6. **OpenAI o3-mini** (OpenAI): $1.10 / $4.40, 200K ctx, Q72, value 65.5. **DeepSeek R1** (DeepSeek): $0.550 / $2.19, 128K ctx, Q73, value 132.7. All of these appear in the Compare Prices grid under their respective provider dropdowns. Tick all of them and the grid renders the cross-provider tier comparison in seconds.

When to Pick Each Reasoning Model

**OpenAI o3**: pick when the task involves multi-step planning or math where chain-of-thought pays for itself. **OpenAI o3-mini**: pick when the task involves multi-step planning or math where chain-of-thought pays for itself. **DeepSeek R1**: pick when the task involves multi-step planning or math where chain-of-thought pays for itself. The picks aren't mutually exclusive — many production stacks route different traffic types to different Reasoning models within the same week. For routing pattern guidance, see multi-model routing with quality scores.

Operationalizing the Reasoning Pick

Once you've shortlisted within the Reasoning tier in /tools/compare-prices, plug your token volume into /tools/api-cost-estimator for monthly cost projection. A common mistake: assuming Reasoning models all behave the same on output cost. The grid makes the spread obvious — output costs across the Reasoning tier in this guide span $2.19 to $40.00 per 1M, a 18.3× spread. Pricing is pulled live from OpenRouter's models endpoint and revalidated every 60 minutes via Next.js's incremental cache, so the grid you see is at most an hour stale. Quality scores blend Arena AI Elo with Artificial Analysis intelligence-index data on the same cadence. Run the comparison live at /tools/compare-prices, then bookmark the URL for next month's price audit.