ModelRefs / Most Affordable Models

Most Affordable Models

Best value AI models ranked by price per million tokens.

Overview

Best value AI models ranked by price per million tokens.

How this ranking is produced

45 models in the ModelRefs catalogue carry qualifying benchmark evidence for this category. The ten highest-scoring are listed below.

Scores below are a heuristic over the benchmark evidence ModelRefs holds for each model, not a guarantee of real-world performance. A model ranks only where it has qualifying benchmark results, so a capable model with thin evidence can rank low or be absent. Each entry states the benchmarks behind its score — read those before acting on the order.

Ranked models

  1. #1 Text Embedding 3 Small

    Score 5000000 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0000 / 1K tokens.

  2. #2 Text Embedding Ada 002

    Score 1000000 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0001 / 1K tokens.

  3. #3 Text Embedding 3 Large

    Score 769231 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0001 / 1K tokens.

  4. #4 Llama 3.1 8B

    Score 769231 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0001 / 1K tokens.

  5. #5 Mistral Nemo

    Score 333333 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0003 / 1K tokens.

  6. #6 Pixtral 12B

    Score 333333 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0003 / 1K tokens.

  7. #7 Qwen 2.5 Coder 32B

    Score 277778 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0004 / 1K tokens.

  8. #8 Gemini 2.5 Flash

    Score 270270 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0004 / 1K tokens.

  9. #9 Gemini 1.5 Flash

    Score 270270 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0004 / 1K tokens.

  10. #10 Gemma 3 27B

    Score 250000 out of 100. Combined input + output cost of $0.0004 / 1K tokens.

Continue your research

Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to Most Affordable Models.