AI Token Price History
Every token price change we've recorded, with dates. Model pricing moves constantly and providers rarely announce the old number — this is the record of what things actually cost, and when that changed.
Updated September 2026 · 15 price moves · 132 models · 14 retired
Token price history is the dated record of what an AI model's API cost at each point in its life. Across the 2-year window in this archive, UsagePricing has recorded 15 price moves: 8 cuts and 7 increases. The steepest single cut was GPT-5.6 Luna, down 80% on a blended basis in Jul 2026.
The direction is not uniformly down. Promotional launch rates expire on published dates, and providers have repriced models upward — so a rate you budgeted against last quarter may not be the rate you pay now.
Every recorded price move
Newest first. Percentage is the blended change, weighting output tokens 3× input.
| Date | Model | Provider | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2026 | GPT-5.6 Sol | OpenAI | $5.00 $4.00 | $30.00 $20.00 | -33% |
| Aug 2026 | Grok 4.20 Beta | xAI | $2.00 $1.25 | $6.00 $2.50 | -56% |
| Aug 2026 | DeepSeek V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $1.74 $1.32 | $3.48 $3.96 | +8% |
| Aug 2026 | DeepSeek V4-Flash | DeepSeek | $0.14 $0.44 | $0.28 $1.32 | +349% |
| Aug 2026 | Gemini 3.6 Flash | $1.50 $0.75 | $7.50 $3.75 | -50% | |
| Aug 2026 | Llama 4 Maverick | Meta | $0.15 $0.20 | $0.60 $0.80 | +33% |
| Aug 2026 | Llama 4 Scout | Meta | $0.080 $0.10 | $0.30 $0.30 | +2% |
| Jul 2026 | GPT-5.6 Terra | OpenAI | $2.50 $2.00 | $15.00 $12.00 | -20% |
| Jul 2026 | GPT-5.6 Luna | OpenAI | $1.00 $0.20 | $6.00 $1.20 | -80% |
| Jul 2026 | Mistral Small 4 | Mistral | $0.10 $0.15 | $0.30 $0.60 | +95% |
| Jun 2026 | DeepSeek V4-Pro | DeepSeek | $0.43 $1.74 | $0.87 $3.48 | +300% |
| Apr 2026 | Llama 4 Maverick | Meta | $0.22 $0.15 | $0.85 $0.60 | -30% |
| Mar 2026 | DeepSeek R1 | DeepSeek | $0.55 $0.28 | $2.19 $0.42 | -78% |
| Sep 2025 | Gemini 2.5 Flash | $0.15 $0.30 | $0.60 $2.50 | +300% | |
| Aug 2024 | GPT-4o | OpenAI | $5.00 $2.50 | $15.00 $10.00 | -35% |
Biggest price cuts
Retired models
No longer on their provider's public price list. Kept here at their last listed rates — these are not purchasable at these prices.
| Model | Provider | Last input / 1M | Last output / 1M | Noted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Sonnet 4 | Anthropic | $3.00 | $15.00 | Aug 2026 |
| Claude Opus 4 | Anthropic | $15.00 | $75.00 | Aug 2026 |
| Claude Opus 4.1 | Anthropic | $15.00 | $75.00 | Aug 2026 |
| DeepSeek V3.2 | DeepSeek | $0.28 | $0.42 | Jul 2026 |
| DeepSeek R1 | DeepSeek | $0.28 | $0.42 | Jul 2026 |
| Gemini 2.0 Flash | $0.10 | $0.40 | Aug 2026 | |
| Gemini 3 Flash | $0.50 | $3.00 | Aug 2026 | |
| Mistral Medium 3 | Mistral | $0.40 | $2.00 | Aug 2026 |
| Mistral Small 3 | Mistral | $0.030 | $0.11 | Aug 2026 |
| Grok 4 | xAI | $3.00 | $15.00 | Aug 2026 |
| Grok 4 Fast | xAI | $0.20 | $0.50 | Aug 2026 |
| Grok 3 | xAI | $3.00 | $15.00 | Aug 2026 |
| Grok 4.1 Fast | xAI | $0.20 | $0.50 | Aug 2026 |
| Grok 3 Mini | xAI | $0.30 | $0.50 | Aug 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
Do AI token prices go up or down over time? +
Mostly down, but not universally. Of the 15 price moves recorded in this archive, 8 were cuts and 7 were increases. The typical cut is around 35%. Increases do happen — providers have repriced models upward when demand outstripped capacity, and promotional launch rates routinely step up on a published expiry date.
Why do you keep retired models listed? +
Because deleting them would erase the record. A retired model's page stays up with its last listed price, clearly marked as retired, so you can still see what a given capability cost at the time. There are currently 14 retired models in the archive.
How is the percentage change calculated? +
Each move is scored on a blended rate that weights output tokens 3× input, which is closer to a realistic bill than comparing input prices alone. A model that halves its input price but leaves output untouched shows a smaller change than a straight input comparison would suggest.
What counts as a price move? +
Only a change to an already-tracked model. The first price we record for a model is its listing price, not a discount — counting launches as cuts would make every new model look like a price drop.