OpenAI API Pricing 2026: Model Rates, ChatGPT Plans, and Startup Credits

Every current OpenAI model's per-token rate, the Batch, Flex and cached-input discounts that reshape the bill, what the ChatGPT plans cost, and the two programs that give startups OpenAI credits.

gpt-6-astra $10 / $50 Flagship, input / output per MTok

gpt-6.1-sol $2 / $10 Near-Astra quality, lower cost

gpt-6-luna $0.10 / $0.50 High-volume, cheapest GPT-6

Startups Via VCs OpenAI API credits need a partner VC referral code

What you can actually get

Startup programs that cover the bill instead of you.

OpenAI API pricing per model (October 2026)

Standard-tier prices in USD per million tokens from OpenAI's pricing page. Cached input is the rate for prompt tokens the API has already seen.

Model	Input	Cached input	Output	Position in the lineup
gpt-6-astra	$10.00	$1.00	$50.00	Flagship, OpenAI's default recommendation
gpt-6.1-sol	$2.00	$0.10	$10.00	Near-Astra performance at lower cost
gpt-6-sol	$2.00	$0.20	$10.00	Original GPT-6 Sol
gpt-6-luna	$0.10	$0.01	$0.50	Most efficient, for high-volume tasks
gpt-5.6-sol	$4.00	$0.40	$20.00	Previous-generation flagship
gpt-5.6-terra	$2.00	$0.20	$12.00	Mid-tier of the 5.6 family
gpt-5.6-luna	$0.20	$0.02	$1.20	Small, fast 5.6 model
gpt-5.5	$5.00	$0.50	$30.00	Older flagship
gpt-5.5-pro	$30.00	—	$180.00	Extended-compute reasoning
gpt-5.4	$2.50	$0.25	$15.00	Workhorse general model
gpt-5.4-mini	$0.75	$0.075	$4.50	Cost-efficient general model
gpt-5.4-nano	$0.20	$0.02	$1.25	Cheapest 5.4 model
gpt-5.4-pro	$30.00	—	$180.00	Extended-compute reasoning
gpt-5.2	$1.75	$0.175	$14.00	Older generation
gpt-5.2-pro	$21.00	—	$168.00	Older pro model
gpt-5.1	$1.25	$0.125	$10.00	Older generation
gpt-5	$1.25	$0.125	$10.00	Original GPT-5
gpt-5-mini	$0.25	$0.025	$2.00	Original small model
gpt-5-nano	$0.05	$0.005	$0.40	Cheapest model OpenAI sells
gpt-5-pro	$15.00	—	$120.00	Original pro model
o3	$2.00	$0.50	$8.00	Reasoning model
o3-mini	$1.10	$0.55	$4.40	Small reasoning model
o3-pro	$20.00	—	$80.00	Reasoning, extended compute
o1	$15.00	$7.50	$60.00	Legacy reasoning
o1-pro	$150.00	—	$600.00	Legacy, most expensive

Prices shown are for prompts up to 272K input tokens; longer prompts bill at higher long-context rates. Regional data-residency endpoints carry a 10% uplift for models released on or after March 5, 2026. The pro models do not offer cached input. OpenAI says gpt-5.6-sol's current promotional price runs at least through November 21, 2026. Older models (GPT-4.1, GPT-4o, o4-mini and earlier) are still listed on OpenAI's page.

Batch, Flex, Fast mode and cached input: the multipliers

OpenAI's list price is one of four rates you can pay for the same model.

Standard. The table above. Synchronous, full speed.
Batch API: 50% off. Submit a file of requests and get results back asynchronously, typically within 24 hours. gpt-6.1-sol drops from $2.00 to $1.00 input and $10 to $5 output.
Flex processing: matches Batch pricing. Same discount, but through the normal API with lower priority and slower, variable latency. Good for background jobs that still need a request-response shape.
Fast mode: 2x standard. Faster output at double the price (OpenAI renamed Priority processing to Fast mode on July 30, 2026). gpt-6.1-sol is $4.00 input in fast mode.
Cached input: 10% of standard or less. Prompt tokens the API has seen recently bill at one tenth of the input rate on most models, and one twentieth on gpt-6.1-sol. Long system prompts and shared context are where this pays off.

These compound. A batch job that reuses a cached prefix pays 50% on output and as little as 2.5% on the cached portion of input. If your workload is offline, the difference between standard and batch-plus-cache is not a discount, it is a different business.

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ChatGPT plan pricing

The consumer and business ChatGPT plans are separate from API billing. These are the plan prices as we understand them; the ChatGPT pricing page was not reachable when we last verified, so confirm on openai.com before relying on a figure.

Plan	Price	For	Notes
Free	$0	Anyone	Access to the default model with usage limits
Go	Low-cost tier	Individuals in select markets	More usage than Free at a price below Plus
Plus	$20/month	Individuals	Higher limits, access to newer models, Codex included
Pro	$200/month	Power users	Highest limits, pro reasoning models, extended Codex usage
Business (formerly Team)	Per seat, monthly or annual	Teams	Shared workspace, admin controls, no training on your data by default
Enterprise	Custom	Larger organizations	SSO, SCIM, compliance, dedicated support
Edu	Custom	Universities	Campus-wide access at education pricing

Plan subscriptions do not include API credit. If you build a product on OpenAI, you pay per token regardless of which ChatGPT plan you hold.

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OpenAI Codex pricing

"OpenAI codex pricing" now means the Codex coding agent (CLI, IDE and cloud), not the retired 2021 code models. Codex is bundled with ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Business plans with usage limits that scale with the plan, so most individual developers do not pay separately for it. When you run Codex against an API key instead, usage bills at the standard per-token rates of whichever model Codex is using, with the same cached-input discount.

Budget for it the way you would for any agent: a session that reads a large codebase, runs tests and iterates can consume tens of thousands of input tokens per turn, most of them cached after the first pass. On gpt-6.1-sol that is a dollar or two per working session at list price; on a subscription it is a slice of a fixed allowance.

The practical comparison for a startup is the same one we make for Claude Code: interactive use by a human is cheapest on a subscription; automated use in CI or inside your product belongs on the API, ideally on credits.

OpenAI API cost: three worked examples

Real arithmetic from the table above. Swap in your own token counts.

Workload	Model	Assumptions	Monthly cost (standard)	Optimized
Support ticket triage, 10,000 tickets/month	gpt-6-luna	3,000 input, 700 output tokens per ticket	Input 30M × $0.10 = $3 Output 7M × $0.50 = $3.50 $6.50	Batch: $3.25
RAG chatbot, 100,000 queries/month	gpt-6.1-sol	5,000 input (4,000 shared context + 1,000 query), 500 output per query	Input 500M × $2 = $1,000 Output 50M × $10 = $500 $1,500	Cache the 4,000-token prefix: 400M × $0.10 = $40, plus 100M × $2 = $200, plus $500 output = $740
Agentic coding, one developer, 20 sessions/month	gpt-6-astra	50,000 input, 15,000 output tokens per session	Input 1M × $10 = $10 Output 0.3M × $50 = $15 $25	With 80% of input cached: $2 + $0.80 + $15 = $17.80

Compare the RAG row with the same workload on Claude Sonnet 5: $1,500 standard, $780 with caching. At list price the two are identical, so caching and output length decide the bill on both platforms.

For founders

How startups get OpenAI API credits free

There are two routes and they are not the same size.

OpenAI for Startups has no public self-serve application. If your VC is an OpenAI partner, they give you a referral code to redeem the credits. OpenAI does not publish the amount. OpenAI Grove, its cohort program, closed applications on January 12, 2026.

Stage: Pre-seed to Series A
Equity: None taken
Referral: VC or accelerator

See eligibility & how to apply Apply

The fine print

Microsoft for Startups is the larger route, and Azure credits pay for OpenAI models served through Azure OpenAI. You get $200 at signup and $5,000 after business verification, with automatic upgrades up to $150,000 as your Azure usage grows. With an investor referral code you start with $1,000 in credits and a review for up to $150,000. Same models, same per-token shape, billed to a bigger credit pool.

Founders who use both typically put development and evaluation on OpenAI's own credits, where the newest models land first, and production on Azure OpenAI where the credit pool can absorb real traffic. AWS Activate credits cover third-party models on Bedrock, such as Claude.

OpenAI for Startups

Up to Varies

API credits through OpenAI partner VCs (referral code required)
Rate limit upgrades
Time with OpenAI solutions engineers

Step by step: setting up OpenAI on startup credits

Apply to both programs on the same day. Neither blocks the other.

1

Create an OpenAI organization on your company domain

Sign up on the OpenAI platform with a work email, verify the organization, and set a monthly usage limit before anyone ships code against it.
2

Ask your VC for an OpenAI referral code

There is no public self-serve application. If your VC is an OpenAI partner, apply at openai.com/startups with their referral code and your org ID. Details are on our OpenAI startup program page.
3

Apply to Microsoft for Startups

You start with $200 at signup and $5,000 after business verification, scaling to $150,000 as your Azure usage grows. An investor referral code adds a $1,000 starter grant and a review for up to $150,000. Our Microsoft for Startups page covers the tiers and rejection reasons.
4

Deploy the same models through Azure OpenAI for production

Keep your prompts and eval harness portable between the OpenAI API and Azure OpenAI so you can move traffic to whichever credit pool has balance left.
5

Turn on caching and move offline work to Batch

Cached input at a tenth of the input rate or less and Batch at 50% off are the two levers that make the credits last. Structure prompts with the shared context first so the cache hits.
6

Model post-credit cost before the credits run out

Use the worked examples above with your own token counts. Standard pricing applies the day the balance hits zero.

Questions founders ask

How much does the OpenAI API cost?

It depends on the model. Per million tokens, gpt-6-astra is $10 input / $50 output, gpt-6.1-sol is $2 / $10, gpt-6-luna is $0.10 / $0.50, gpt-5.6-sol is $4 / $20, gpt-5.5 is $5 / $30 and gpt-5.4 is $2.50 / $15. Cached input bills at a tenth of the input rate or less and Batch is 50% off.

What is the cheapest OpenAI model?

gpt-5-nano at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens. In the current GPT-6 family, gpt-6-luna is $0.10 input / $0.50 output and is the better choice for most high-volume work. For general production work gpt-6.1-sol is the usual default.

Is the OpenAI API free?

No. The API is prepaid and billed per token. OpenAI's quickstart lets new accounts run a free test request, but there is no ongoing free allowance. Startups backed by an OpenAI partner VC can get credits through OpenAI for Startups, and startups can run OpenAI models on Azure OpenAI using Microsoft for Startups credits.

What is the difference between ChatGPT Plus and the OpenAI API?

ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) is a subscription to the chat product for a person. The API is per-token billing for software you build. A Plus subscription includes no API credit, and API spend does not give you ChatGPT features.

How do OpenAI Batch and Flex pricing work?

Both are 50% off standard rates. Batch takes a file of requests and returns results asynchronously, typically within 24 hours. Flex uses the normal API with lower priority and variable latency. Fast mode is the opposite: 2x standard for faster output.

How do I get OpenAI API credits for my startup?

OpenAI has no public self-serve application. If your VC is an OpenAI partner, ask them for a referral code and redeem it; the amount is not published. Separately, apply to Microsoft for Startups for Azure credits that cover OpenAI models on Azure OpenAI: $200 at signup and $5,000 after verification, scaling to $150,000 as usage grows.

How much does OpenAI Codex cost?

Codex is included with ChatGPT Plus, Pro and Business subscriptions with usage limits that scale by plan. Used against an API key, Codex bills at the per-token rate of the model it runs, with the standard cached-input discount.

Related guides

Claude API pricing

Anthropic's per-token rates and worked examples for comparison.

Claude pricing

Claude plans versus ChatGPT plans.

Claude Code pricing

The Codex alternative and what it costs.

OpenAI startup program

How OpenAI for Startups credits work through partner VCs.

Microsoft for Startups

Azure credits that cover OpenAI models.

How to get an OpenAI API key

Project keys, billing, usage tiers and free credit routes.

How to get an Anthropic API key

If you are comparing providers.

More pricing guides

Programs in this guide

OpenAI Up to Varies

Microsoft Up to $150,000

AWS Up to $200,000