What is the cheapest model for writing and editing copy?

Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at Inference, $0.012 per 1,000 pieces 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 piece of copy is about 400 tokens in and 800 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 writing and editing copy.

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

Product descriptions, newsletters, ad variants. A brief and a house style go in, finished prose comes out, and the output is the long half. We count only models with 32k of context or more, and 316 of the 337 we track qualify. The cheapest of them costs $0.012 per 1,000 pieces 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: $0.012 per 1,000 pieces, read on 16 Sept 2026.

Cheapest that qualifies

Llama 3.2 1B Instruct

Inference

$0.012per 1,000 pieces

$0.01 / $0.01 per M tokens · $0.172 at list

lowest cost per 1,000 pieces

Cheapest from the maker

Ministral 8B (latest)

Mistral AI

$0.12per 1,000 pieces

$0.10 / $0.10 per M tokens · $0.12 at list

bought from the lab that trained it

Most context

Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor

NanoGPT

$0.0416per 1,000 pieces

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

the longest single call on this list

What actually matters here

Output price decides it: Twice as many tokens come out as go in, so a model with a low output price beats one that is only cheap to prompt.
32k context for the brief: A brief, a style guide and a few examples of your own voice fit in 32k tokens with room to spare.
Try two before you commit: Writing is the job where models differ most in ways a price cannot show. The cheap ones here are cheap enough to test side by side.

Cheapest 10 for writing and editing copy

1
Inference
Llama 3.2 1B Instruct
$0.012 per 1,000 pieces · $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
NanoGPT
Mercury 2.5
$0.0192 per 1,000 pieces · $0.04 / $0.004 per M tokens · 260k contextThe same price Inception charges.
✓ 260k context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.12/M tokens
NanoGPT ↗
3
Inference
Llama 3.2 3B Instruct
$0.024 per 1,000 pieces · $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
4
NanoGPT
Nemotron 3.5 Lightning
$0.028 per 1,000 pieces · $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 ↗
5
Nous Portal
Mistral Nemo
$0.0312 per 1,000 pieces · $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 ↗
6
Alibaba Cloud (China)
Qwen3-ASR Flash
$0.0384 per 1,000 pieces · $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) ↗
7
Kilo Gateway
Llama 3.1 8B Instruct
$0.04 per 1,000 pieces · $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 ↗
8
NanoGPT
Muse Spark 1.3 Contributor
$0.0416 per 1,000 pieces · $0.10 / $0.002 per M tokens · 1M contextThe same price Meta charges.
✓ 1M context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.30/M tokens
NanoGPT ↗
9
NanoGPT
Muse Spark 1.2 Contributor
$0.0416 per 1,000 pieces · $0.10 / $0.002 per M tokens · 1M contextThe same price Meta charges.
✓ 1M context✓ tool calling✓ structured output
$0.30/M tokens
NanoGPT ↗
10
Merge Gateway
GLM-5.3-Flash
$0.046 per 1,000 pieces · $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

A piece of copy is about 400 tokens in and 800 out. A cost per 1,000 pieces 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 $0.012 per 1,000 pieces is what the work costs.

Frequently asked

What is the cheapest model for writing and editing copy?: Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at Inference, $0.012 per 1,000 pieces 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 piece of copy is about 400 tokens in and 800 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.