Cheapest LLM API ranking (updated daily)
As of 2026-10-17, the cheapest LLM API by blended price (0.75×input + 0.25×output) is Qwen3.7 Flash: blended $0.055 per 1M tokens (OpenRouter). （source · verified）
Official channels only: Hunyuan-A13B: blended $0.131 per 1M tokens (official China site). （source · verified）
Cheapest with verified mainland-China direct access: Qwen3.7 Flash: blended $0.055 per 1M tokens (OpenRouter). （source · verified）
Top 20 cheapest LLM APIs by blended price across official and OpenRouter channels, with sources.
| # | Model | Blended | Cheapest channel | China usability | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Qwen3.7 FlashAlibaba Qwen (Model Studio) | $0.055 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 2 |  Hunyuan-A13BTencent Hunyuan | $0.131 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✗Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 3 |  Gemini 2.5 Flash-LiteGoogle Gemini | $0.175 | Official (Intl) | ✗CN direct?Alipay·unverified?ID·unverified?Intl card·unverified | 2026-10-17 |
| 4 |  MiMo V2.6 FlashXiaomi MiMo | $0.175 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 5 | Qwen3.8 FlashAlibaba Qwen (Model Studio) | $0.19 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 6 |  GLM-5.3 FlashZhipu GLM (Z.ai) | $0.194 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 7 |  GPT-6 LunaOpenAI | $0.2 | Official (Intl) | ✗CN direct?Alipay·unverified?ID·unverified?Intl card·unverified | 2026-10-17 |
| 8 |  Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic | $0.2 | Official (Intl) | ✗CN direct?Alipay·unverified?ID·unverified?Intl card·unverified | 2026-10-17 |
| 9 | Gemma 4 31BGoogle Gemini | $0.205 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 10 |  ERNIE 4.5 Turbo 128KBaidu ERNIE (Qianfan) | $0.209 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 11 | Qwen3.8 Omni FlashAlibaba Qwen (Model Studio) | $0.23 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 12 | Hunyuan HY3Tencent Hunyuan | $0.231 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 13 |  DeepSeek V4 ProDeepSeek | $0.26 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 14 | ERNIE X1.1 PreviewBaidu ERNIE (Qianfan) | $0.261 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 15 | Hunyuan HY3 PreviewTencent Hunyuan | $0.285 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 16 | GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI | $0.45 | OpenRouter | ✗CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 17 | DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek | $0.523 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 18 | Qwen3.7 PlusAlibaba Qwen (Model Studio) | $0.523 | Official (China) | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✓ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 19 |  MiniMax-M3MiniMax | $0.525 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
| 20 | MiMo V2.6 ProXiaomi MiMo | $0.544 | OpenRouter | ✓CN direct✓Alipay✗ID✗Intl card | 2026-10-17 |
Retired, deprecated or OpenRouter-expiring names are not ranked: GPT-5.4 nano（Deprecated · shuts down 2027-04-01）, Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite（Deprecated · shutdown no earlier than 2027-05-07）, DeepSeek V4 Flash（Retired · third-party hosted）, MiniMax-M2.7（Deprecated · shuts down 2026-11-18）, Seed 2.0 Code（OpenRouter lists expiration 2026-11-11）, DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731（Retired · third-party hosted）. Their prices remain on the model pages and in the main table.Rule
FAQ
What is the cheapest LLM API?
Qwen3.7 Flash (OpenRouter)
Is the DeepSeek API free? · Free LLM APIs · Use in Claude Code / Codex · Methodology