OpenAI API Pricing
usage-basedofficial site ↗
At a glance
Pay-per-use by model family: GPT-5.5/GPT-5.3, reasoning/thinking, audio/image, embeddings, cached input, and batch usage are priced separately
Free & cheaper Model Providers
same category, free plan or open-source license
ClaudeFree $0 / Pro $20 monthly ($17/mo annual) / Team Standard $25 monthly ($20 annual) / Team Premium $125 monthly ($100 annual) / Max $100 or $200/mo / Enterprise from $20/seat + API-rate usageChatGPTFree tier available. ChatGPT Plus $20/mo. ChatGPT Pro $200/mo (highest model access, extended thinking). Team $25-30/user/mo. Enterprise pricing on request.GroqFree tier (model-specific limits) / Pay-per-use from about $0.05/M input tokensvLLMopen sourceFree and open-source
FAQ
How much does OpenAI API cost?
Pay-per-use by model family: GPT-5.5/GPT-5.3, reasoning/thinking, audio/image, embeddings, cached input, and batch usage are priced separately
Does OpenAI API have a free plan?
OpenAI API is priced by usage, so cost scales with consumption rather than a flat plan.
What are free or cheaper OpenAI API alternatives?
Claude, ChatGPT, Groq are in the same category with a free plan or open-source license.
pricing is hand-verified editorial data — vendors change plans; confirm on the official site before you buy. Reuse this data under CC-BY 4.0 via /data.