What is the cheapest model for translating content?

Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at Inference, $0.013 per 1,000 pages on $0.01 / $0.01 per million tokens in and out, read on 16 Sept 2026.

How is the cost per unit worked out?

A translated page is about 600 tokens in and 700 out. Multiply that by 1,000 and price it at each row's own input and output rate. Nothing else is counted: no cache discount, no batch rate, no free tier.

Why do only 316 models qualify?

The job needs 32k of context or more. Models that fall short are still in the index, they just cannot do this job as described.

How current are these prices?

Prices are read daily from 212 providers' public catalogs and this ranking recomputes with them. Last refresh: 16 Sept 2026.

Best AI model for translating content.

prices as of 16 Sept 2026 · re-ranked daily · 316 qualifying models

A catalogue, a help centre or a set of subtitles into another language. Roughly as much comes out as goes in, so both prices count equally. We count only models with 32k of context or more, and 316 of the 337 we track qualify. The cheapest of them costs $0.013 per 1,000 pages at Inference. They are ranked by what the work costs, not by the price per million tokens, because a model that is cheap to prompt and dear to answer looks different once you know the shape of the job.

The cheapest model that can do this job is Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at Inference: $0.013 per 1,000 pages, read on 16 Sept 2026.

Cheapest that qualifies

Llama 3.2 1B Instruct

Inference

$0.013per 1,000 pages

$0.01 / $0.01 per M tokens · $0.157 at list

lowest cost per 1,000 pages

Cheapest from the maker

Command R7B Arabic

Cohere

$0.128per 1,000 pages

$0.04 / $0.15 per M tokens · $0.128 at list

bought from the lab that trained it

Most context

Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor

NanoGPT

$0.0614per 1,000 pages

$0.10 / $0.002 per M tokens · $0.20 at list

the longest single call on this list

What actually matters here

Both prices count: Translation returns about as much text as it reads, so a model that is cheap on input and dear on output saves you nothing here.
32k context for consistency: Sending a whole page with a glossary keeps names and product terms consistent, which is what re-reads cost you when you send single lines.
Check your language pair: Prices are the same for every language; quality is not. Test the pair you actually need before you buy the cheapest row.

Cheapest 10 for translating content

1
Inference
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct
$0.013 per 1,000 pages · $0.01 / $0.01 per M tokens · 60k contextHosts the open weights on its own servers, so the price is its own, not a resale. Precision not disclosed.
✓ 60k context✓ open weights
$0.04/M tokens
2
Inference
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
$0.026 per 1,000 pages · $0.02 / $0.02 per M tokens · 131k contextHosts the open weights on its own servers, so the price is its own, not a resale. Precision not disclosed.
✓ 131k context✓ structured output✓ open weights
$0.08/M tokens
3
NanoGPT
Mercury 2.5
$0.0268 per 1,000 pages · $0.04 / $0.004 per M tokens · 260k contextThe same price Inception charges.
✓ 260k context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.12/M tokens
NanoGPT ↗
4
Nous Portal
Mistral Nemo
$0.0318 per 1,000 pages · $0.02 / $0.03 per M tokens · 128k contextResells OpenRouter's catalog at 0.80× the listed price, funded by a subscription whose credits carry a 10% bonus.
✓ 128k context✓ tool calling✓ open weights
$0.08/M tokens
Nous Portal ↗
5
NanoGPT
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
$0.037 per 1,000 pages · $0.05 / $0.01 per M tokens · 262k contextRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
✓ 262k context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.16/M tokens
NanoGPT ↗
6
Kilo Gateway
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
$0.04 per 1,000 pages · $0.02 / $0.04 per M tokens · 131k contextRoutes to a host serving the open weights; precision not disclosed.
✓ 131k context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.10/M tokens
Kilo Gateway ↗
7
Alibaba Cloud (China)
Qwen3-ASR Flash
$0.0416 per 1,000 pages · $0.03 / $0.03 per M tokens · 53k context9% under the list price, an ordinary reseller margin.
✓ 53k context
$0.13/M tokens
Alibaba Cloud (China) ↗
8
Merge Gateway
GLM-5.3-Flash
$0.044 per 1,000 pages · $0.01 / $0.05 per M tokens · 1M contextHosts the open weights on its own servers, so the price is its own, not a resale. Precision not disclosed.
✓ 1M context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.10/M tokens
9
Azure Cognitive Services
Ministral 3B (latest)
$0.052 per 1,000 pages · $0.04 / $0.04 per M tokens · 128k contextThe same price Mistral AI charges.
✓ 128k context✓ tool calling✓ open weights
$0.16/M tokens
10
OpenRouter
Ling 3.0 Flash
$0.0567 per 1,000 pages · $0.02 / $0.06 per M tokens · 262k contextThe same price OpenRouter charges.
✓ 262k context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.13/M tokens
OpenRouter ↗

A translated page is about 600 tokens in and 700 out. A cost per 1,000 pages is that multiplied out at the row's own input and output rate. The price beside it is the standard price, three parts input to one part output per million tokens, so the two numbers answer different questions: $0.04 per million tokens is what the model costs, and $0.013 per 1,000 pages is what the work costs.

Frequently asked

What is the cheapest model for translating content?: Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at Inference, $0.013 per 1,000 pages on $0.01 / $0.01 per million tokens in and out, read on 16 Sept 2026.
How is the cost per unit worked out?: A translated page is about 600 tokens in and 700 out. Multiply that by 1,000 and price it at each row's own input and output rate. Nothing else is counted: no cache discount, no batch rate, no free tier.
Why do only 316 models qualify?: The job needs 32k of context or more. Models that fall short are still in the index, they just cannot do this job as described.
How current are these prices?: Prices are read daily from 212 providers' public catalogs and this ranking recomputes with them. Last refresh: 16 Sept 2026.