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.

Budget Reasoning LLMs in the Compare Prices Grid

What "Budget Reasoning" Means in 2026

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. Reasoning models used to start at $10+ per 1M input. DeepSeek R1 changed the floor — it's in the same quality range as o3-mini at $0.55 input. The Compare Prices view makes the "Budget Reasoning" picks visible at a glance — once you've ticked the candidates, the input-cost column does the budget filtering visually. See also: filter LLM models by tier, cost, quality, Value column vs tokens-per-dollar, and how to pick an LLM by quality score and cost.

Who Fits the "Budget Reasoning" Bucket

**DeepSeek R1** (DeepSeek): $0.550 / $2.19, Q73, 128K ctx. **OpenAI o3-mini** (OpenAI): $1.10 / $4.40, Q72, 200K ctx. **Claude Sonnet 4.7** (Anthropic): $3.00 / $15.00, Q80, 200K ctx. All ticked together in /tools/compare-prices, the grid lays out the tradeoffs: quality varies from 72 to 80 within the budget, and output costs span $2.19 to $15.00/1M. Pick the highest-Value (quality ÷ input cost) entry that meets your quality floor.

Why Cheapest ≠ Best

Within the "Budget Reasoning" bucket, the cheapest model is rarely the best Value pick. A model at $0.20 input / quality 60 has Value = 300; a model at $0.50 input / quality 70 has Value = 140 — the cheaper model wins by 2.1×. But if your workload's quality floor is 65, the cheaper model is disqualified even before Value enters the discussion. Always set the quality floor first, then optimize Value within it. For the framework, see why the cheapest LLM isn't always the best value.

The Budget Reasoning Picks, Side-by-Side

In /tools/compare-prices, tick all candidates across their provider dropdowns. The grid renders input, output, context, and quality in stacked columns. For most Budget Reasoning workloads, the order of operations is: quality floor first, then Value, then output cost. The grid makes all three visible in one scan. If your monthly volume is small (< 10M tokens), the model differences won't make material bill impact — pick on quality. If volume is high (> 1B tokens/month), even small input-cost deltas compound.

From Budget Bucket to Production

Once you've shortlisted within the Budget Reasoning bucket, run the candidates through /tools/api-cost-estimator with your real workload volume to project monthly cost. For ongoing budget control, instrument token usage in production so you can catch cost regressions early — see token usage auditing. The grid pulls prices live from OpenRouter and quality from a blended Arena AI + Artificial Analysis pipeline — both refresh on a 60-minute incremental cache, so the comparison reflects current rates not a baked-in snapshot. Open /tools/compare-prices now, pick your provider dropdowns, and pin the shortlist that matches your workload.