OpenAI vs Anthropic API: per-token pricing compared
Updated 2026-11-09 · listed A to Z, not ranked
OpenAI and Anthropic both price their APIs per million input and output tokens, with discounted cached input. Model tiers line up roughly from largest to smallest, but quality and speed differ, so compare on your own prompts.
Listed A to Z from each vendor’s official pricing page on Nov 9, 2026. We do not pick a winner: the right choice depends on your usage.
- Largest model (input / output per 1M tokens)
- Claude Fable 5.1: $10 / $50
- Middle models
- Claude Opus 5.5: $4 / $20; Sonnet 5.5: $2 / $10
- Smallest model
- Claude Haiku 5.5: $0.10 / $0.50 (prompts up to 100K tokens)
- Cached input
- Cache hits from $0.10 (Sonnet) to $0.25 (Fable); writes priced separately
- Discounts
- See Anthropic docs
- Largest model (input / output per 1M tokens)
- GPT-6 Astra: $10 in / $50 out
- Middle models
- GPT-6.1 Sol: $2 / $10; GPT-6.1 Terra: $1 / $5
- Smallest model
- GPT-6 Luna: $0.10 / $0.50
- Cached input
- Cached input from $0.01 (Luna) to $1 (Astra)
- Discounts
- Batch 50% off; data residency +10%
How we checked: Prices in USD as shown on each official page on Nov 9, 2026. Listed A to Z, not ranked. Confirm with each provider before you buy.
Notes
Full breakdowns: Anthropic API pricing, OpenAI API pricing. To use both through one key, see OpenRouter pricing.
FAQ
How do OpenAI and Anthropic API prices compare?
On Nov 9, 2026 the largest models were GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1, both $10 input and $50 output per 1M tokens. Mid tiers: GPT-6.1 Sol $2 / $10 and Claude Sonnet 5.5 $2 / $10.
Sources (official pages, read 2026-11-09)
- anthropic.com/api
- docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/about-claude/pricing
- openai.com/api
- openai.com/api/pricing
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