The BenchLM Token Price Index
Updated August 15, 2026 · Published monthly · Base: March 2023 = 100 · Methodology v1.0
Frontier index · August 2026
12
The BenchLM Token Price Index stands at 12 for August 2026 — frontier LLM token prices are 88% below their March 2023 base, at a median blended $4.50 per 1M tokens across 13 flagship models.
Index by tier, March 2023 – August 2026 (each tier's first month = 100)
| Sub-index | Value | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frontier | 12 | -3.2% | +36.4% |
| Mid-tier | 32.1 | +6.6% | -35.8% |
| Budget | 100 | 0% | +90.5% |
What moved since the last snapshot
- Claude 3.5 SonnetMid-tier — entered the index at $6.00/1M blended
- Gemini 1.5 ProFrontier — entered the index at $2.19/1M blended
Current constituents (29)
| Model | Tier | Input $/1M | Output $/1M | Blended $/1M |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek R1 (DeepSeek) | Frontier | $0.55 | $2.19 | $0.96 |
| Gemini 1.5 Pro (Google) | Frontier | $1.25 | $5 | $2.19 |
| GPT-5.1 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $1.25 | $10 | $3.44 |
| Gemini 2.5 Pro (Google) | Frontier | $1.25 | $10 | $3.44 |
| o3 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2 | $8 | $3.50 |
| GPT-4o (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2.5 | $10 | $4.38 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro (Google) | Frontier | $2 | $12 | $4.50 |
| GPT-5.2 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $1.75 | $14 | $4.81 |
| GPT-5.4 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $2.5 | $15 | $5.63 |
| Grok 4.1 (xAI) | Frontier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 |
| Claude Opus 4.6 (Anthropic) | Frontier | $5 | $25 | $10.00 |
| o1 (OpenAI) | Frontier | $15 | $60 | $26.25 |
| GPT-5.4 Pro (OpenAI) | Frontier | $30 | $180 | $67.50 |
| DeepSeek V3 (DeepSeek) | Mid-tier | $0.27 | $1.1 | $0.48 |
| Mistral Large 3 (Mistral) | Mid-tier | $0.5 | $1.5 | $0.75 |
| Gemini 3 Flash (Google) | Mid-tier | $0.5 | $3 | $1.13 |
| GPT-5.4 mini (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $0.75 | $4.5 | $1.69 |
| o3-mini (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $1.1 | $4.4 | $1.93 |
| GPT-4.1 (OpenAI) | Mid-tier | $2 | $8 | $3.50 |
| Claude 3.5 Sonnet (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 |
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 (Anthropic) | Mid-tier | $3 | $15 | $6.00 |
| GPT-4.1 nano (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.1 | $0.4 | $0.17 |
| GPT-4o mini (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.15 | $0.6 | $0.26 |
| Grok 3 Mini (xAI) | Budget | $0.3 | $0.5 | $0.35 |
| Claude 3 Haiku (Anthropic) | Budget | $0.25 | $1.25 | $0.50 |
| GPT-4.1 mini (OpenAI) | Budget | $0.4 | $1.6 | $0.70 |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash (Google) | Budget | $0.3 | $2.5 | $0.85 |
| Claude Haiku 4.5 (Anthropic) | Budget | $1 | $5 | $2.00 |
Blended = (3 × input + output) / 4. Constituent rules and tier assignments: methodology.
Cite the index
Cite as "the BenchLM Token Price Index" with a link to this page. The full monthly series is free to use with attribution:
BenchLM Token Price Index, August 2026: 12 (Mar 2023 = 100). BenchLM.ai, https://benchlm.ai/token-price-indexFrequently Asked Questions
What is the BenchLM Token Price Index?
The BenchLM Token Price Index tracks what 1M tokens costs at the frontier of AI, month by month. It is the median blended API price (3:1 input:output ratio) across the flagship models sold at each point in time, normalized so March 2023 (GPT-4 launch) = 100. A value of 12 means frontier token prices are 88% below that base. Mid-tier and budget sub-indexes track the same rule for workhorse and small models.
How much have LLM token prices dropped?
The BenchLM Token Price Index stands at 12 for August 2026 — frontier LLM token prices are 88% below their March 2023 base, at a median blended $4.50 per 1M tokens across 13 flagship models. Prices are per blended 1M tokens across 13 active frontier constituents.
How is the index calculated?
Each month, every active constituent gets a blended price of (3 × input + output) / 4 per 1M tokens. The index is the tier's median, normalized to its base month = 100. Constituents enter at launch and exit when superseded or no longer listed. The full rules, constituent list, and revision policy are published on the methodology page, and the index is recomputed from source data on every site build.
Can I cite or embed the index?
Yes. Cite it as "the BenchLM Token Price Index" with a link to benchlm.ai/token-price-index. The full series is downloadable at /data/price-index.json, and an embeddable chart is available at /embed/price-index.
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