Compare Hosted AI Models
Pricing, benchmarks, and capabilities for Claude, GPT, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, and Perplexity — updated May 2026.
Cost & Usage Guides
Use these references when model prices, token counts, context size, and usage dashboards need more explanation than a comparison table can hold.
AI Token Costs, Explained
Understand input, output, cached tokens, API requests, model rates, credits, and why large usage numbers can still produce a small bill.
Local AILocal AI Models
Compare self-hosted and open-weight model families by hardware fit, privacy control, setup difficulty, and workflow tradeoffs.
Hosted Subscription Pricing Snapshot
Current public USD subscription prices for major hosted AI products. Prices exclude tax, promotions, and regional app-store differences.
| Provider | Free / Entry | Individual Pro | Highest Individual | Team / Business | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI ChatGPT | Free; Go $8/mo | Plus $20/mo | Pro 5x $100/mo; Pro 20x $200/mo | Business $25/user/mo or $20/user/mo annual | No annual billing for Go, Plus, or Pro plans. |
| Anthropic Claude | Free | Pro $20/mo or $200/yr | Max 5x $100/mo; Max 20x $200/mo | Team Standard $25/seat/mo; Team Premium $125/seat/mo | Team annual prices are $20 and $100 per seat/month respectively. |
| Google Gemini | Free; AI Plus $7.99/mo | Google AI Pro $19.99/mo | Google AI Ultra $249.99/mo | Gemini Business starts at $21/seat/mo; Enterprise starts at $30/seat/mo | Google lists some introductory promotions; base prices shown here. |
| xAI Grok | Free; X Premium $8/mo or $84/yr | X Premium+ $40/mo or $395/yr | SuperGrok / SuperGrok Heavy: not publicly listed | Grok Business: contact sales | Public official pages confirm SuperGrok plans but do not list USD prices. |
| Perplexity | Standard / Free | Pro $20/mo or $200/yr; Education Pro $10/mo | Max $200/mo or $2,000/yr | Enterprise Pro $40/user/mo; Enterprise Max $325/user/mo | Enterprise annual prices are $400 and $3,250 per user/year. |
| DeepSeek | Free web/app access | No public consumer subscription listed | No public consumer subscription listed | API is pay-as-you-go | Included here as a hosted API/web option; not a consumer subscription stack. |
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Hosted Model Comparison
Grouped by performance tier so new users can quickly tell which hosted models are best for premium work, everyday work, or lightweight tasks.
Use this table for hosted subscriptions and APIs. If you are evaluating self-hosted or open-weight families like Llama, Qwen, Gemma, Phi, or Mistral, switch to Local Models.
Click any table header to sort that tier by provider, model, price, use case, speed, or long-input fit.
High-Performance Tier
Best for premium work where quality matters more than cost.
| Provider | Model | Price | Best For | Speed | Handles Long Inputs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Claude Opus 4.7 | Premium | Deep reasoning, technical analysis, high-stakes writing | Medium | Excellent |
| OpenAI | GPT-5.5 | Premium | Complex reasoning, coding, professional work, agents | Fast | Excellent |
| Gemini 3 Pro Preview | Premium | Large files, multimodal workflows, research-heavy prompts | Medium | Excellent | |
| xAI | Grok 4.3 | Premium | Truth-seeking chat, coding, and fast general API work | Fast | Excellent |
| DeepSeek AI | DeepSeek V4 Flash | Value | Cost-efficient hosted reasoning, coding, and long-context work | Fast | Excellent |
| Perplexity | Sonar Pro | Premium | Search-grounded answers, current events, sourced research | Fast | Good |
Mid-Performance Tier
Balanced models that are easier on cost while still handling real work well.
| Provider | Model | Price | Best For | Speed | Handles Long Inputs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 4.6 | Moderate | Balanced coding, reasoning, and document work | Fast | Excellent |
| OpenAI | GPT-5.4-mini | Moderate | Everyday chat, app features, lighter workflow tasks | Fast | Good |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview | Moderate | Fast multimodal prompts and general assistant work | Very Fast | Excellent | |
| Perplexity | Sonar (basic) | Moderate | Simple search-grounded answers and fast research checks | Fast | Good |
Low-Performance Tier
Low-cost models for lightweight prompts, high volume, or basic automations.
| Provider | Model | Price | Best For | Speed | Handles Long Inputs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthropic | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Low | Fast summaries, basic chat, classification | Very Fast | Limited |
| OpenAI | GPT-5.4-nano | Very Low | Classification, simple app actions, lightweight prompts | Very Fast | Limited |
| Gemini 3 Flash Preview (batch) | Low | Cheap multimodal tasks and simple assistant flows | Very Fast | Excellent | |
| DeepSeek AI | DeepSeek V4 Flash (cached) | Very Low | Bulk processing and repeated hosted API workflows | Fast | Excellent |
| Perplexity | Sonar Basic | Low | Quick sourced answers when depth is not the priority | Fast | Limited |
All data sourced from official provider documentation and API pricing pages as of May 11, 2026. Star ratings reflect consensus from public benchmarks (SWE-bench, GPQA Diamond, USAMO, HumanEval) and independent evaluations (LMSYS Arena, Artificial Analysis). Pricing reflects standard API rates for flagship models. Ratings are updated when providers release new models or pricing changes. This page covers hosted models only; local and self-hosted families are documented separately in Local Models. This page does not use affiliate links.