Cheapest AI Models with API
Top AI models with the lowest API prices — maximum quality for minimum cost.
| # | Model | Score |
|---|---|---|
 Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | 55.6% | |
 Gemma 3 4B | 53.0% | |
 Nova Micro | 67.0% | |
| 4 |  Phi-4-multimodal-instruct | 72.0% |
| 5 | Gemma 3 12B | 62.5% |
| 6 |  GPT-5 nano | 50.1% |
| 7 | Nova Lite | 70.7% |
| 8 |  Nemotron 3 Nano (30B A3B) | 68.0% |
| 9 | Phi 4 | 66.0% |
| 10 |  GLM-4.7-Flash | 60.5% |
| 11 | Gemini 1.5 Flash 8B | 60.5% |
| 12 | Gemini 2.0 Flash-Lite | 59.0% |
| 13 |  Qwen2.5-Coder 32B Instruct | 64.9% |
| 14 |  Step-3.5-Flash | 77.6% |
| 15 |  DeepSeek R1 Distill Llama 70B | 76.0% |
Want a detailed comparison of the leaders? → Llama 3.2 3B Instruct vs Gemma 3 4B
Other Collections
Coding
Top AI models for writing code, debugging, and solving real-world development tasks.
Math
Top AI models for solving mathematical problems and computations.
Reasoning
Top AI models for reasoning tasks, analysis, and expert knowledge.
Multimodal
Top AI models with support for text, images, audio, and video.
Large Context
Top AI models with the largest context window — for working with long documents.
General Knowledge
Top AI models on the MMLU benchmark — broad knowledge across dozens of subjects.
Function Calling
Top AI models for function calling and agentic tool use.
Fast
Top AI models by generation speed — maximum throughput via API.
Image Analysis
Top AI models for analyzing charts, diagrams, and visual data.
Free
AI models with free API access — open source and free-tier providers.
AI Agents
Top AI models for building autonomous agents with tool use and planning.
Ranking updated in 2026 based on official benchmarks and independent tests. See also model comparisons and the full catalog.