Cheapest reasoning models.
prices as of · re-ranked daily · 220 qualifying models
A reasoning model works through a problem before it answers, and you pay for that thinking as output tokens, so the output price matters more here than anywhere else. 220 qualify, from $0.10. Prices are per million tokens, three parts input to one part output, at each provider's standard rate.
Today's pick is GLM-5.3-Flash at Merge Gateway, $0.01 in and $0.05 out per million tokens, read on 16 Sept 2026.
- 1
Merge GatewayGLM-5.3-Flash
reasoning, 1M context, sold by 76 providers, $0.01 / $0.05 per M tokens at Merge GatewayHosts the open weights on its own servers, so the price is its own, not a resale. Precision not disclosed.
$0.10/M tokens
- 2
NanoGPTMercury 2.5
reasoning, 260k context, sold by 8 providers, $0.04 / $0.004 per M tokens at NanoGPTThe same price Inception charges.
$0.12/M tokens
- 3
OpenRouterLing 3.0 Flash
reasoning, 262k context, sold by 12 providers, $0.02 / $0.06 per M tokens at OpenRouterThe same price OpenRouter charges.
$0.13/M tokens
- 4
Eden AIQwen3.7 Flash
reasoning, 1M context, sold by 15 providers, $0.02 / $0.08 per M tokens at Eden AIAlibaba's China-region price list, which is lower than the international one. A region, not a deal.
$0.14/M tokens
- 5
Kilo Gatewaygpt-oss-20b
reasoning, 131k context, sold by 43 providers, $0.02 / $0.10 per M tokens at Kilo GatewayRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
$0.16/M tokens
- 6NanoGPT
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
reasoning, 262k context, sold by 12 providers, $0.05 / $0.01 per M tokens at NanoGPTRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
$0.16/M tokens
- 7
TrustedRouterDeepSeek V4.1 Flash
reasoning, 1M context, sold by 54 providers, $0.04 / $0.08 per M tokens at TrustedRouterRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
$0.21/M tokens
- 8
Alibaba Cloud (China)Qwen Turbo
reasoning, 1M context, sold by 7 providers, $0.04 / $0.09 per M tokens at Alibaba Cloud (China)Alibaba's China-region Model Studio, which prices the Qwen models below the international list. A region, not a deal.
$0.22/M tokens
- 9OpenRouter
DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731
reasoning, 1M context, sold by 97 providers, $0.04 / $0.10 per M tokens at OpenRouterRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
$0.22/M tokens
- 10
LLM Gatewaygpt-oss-120b
reasoning, 131k context, sold by 68 providers, $0.03 / $0.14 per M tokens at LLM GatewayRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
$0.24/M tokens
Frequently asked
- What is the cheapest of the reasoning models right now?
- GLM-5.3-Flash at Merge Gateway, $0.01 in and $0.05 out per million tokens, read on 16 Sept 2026.
- Which lab shows up most in this ranking?
- Alibaba Cloud trained 2 of the top 10 models here.
- How is this ranked, and how current is it?
- Every row is the cheapest price for that model that we can account for: the maker's own, a price below it with a published reason, or a price at or above it. A price below the maker's own with nothing to explain it is shown on the model's page and ranked nowhere. Prices are read daily from 212 providers' public catalogs and blended three parts input to one part output per million tokens. Last refresh: 16 Sept 2026.