Conclusion
- Raw token price is only the starting point.
- Retries, malformed JSON, rate limits, and outages can make the cheapest model expensive.
- Use cheap models for routine tasks and fallback to stronger models only when needed.
- Track cost by user, feature, and agent run before optimizing provider spend.
What to do next
- Define success: accepted answer, passed test, valid JSON, or completed workflow.
- Run the same task set through two cheap providers and one stronger fallback.
- Measure retries, invalid outputs, latency, and final accepted cost.
- Route routine tasks to the cheapest reliable provider.
- Use OpenLLMAPI or a gateway when fallback and attribution are more valuable than hand-coded routing.
Recommended paths
| Provider | Free / credits | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek | $5 signup / current credit | Cheap reasoning and coding primary route |
| Qwen | Signup credits vary | China-friendly long-context fallback or primary |
| Zhipu GLM | Signup tokens vary | Domestic fallback and budget route |
| Groq | Developer limits vary | Fast open-model retries and smoke tests |
| OpenLLMAPI | Trial credit varies | Routing, fallback, logs, and budget attribution |
Global developer checklist
- Confirm whether signup, billing, and API keys work from your country before writing production code.
- Prefer OpenAI-compatible endpoints when you may need to switch models, regions, or providers later.
- Test free credits with a real smoke prompt and record latency, error shape, streaming behavior, and quota burn.
- Keep at least one fallback route for provider outages, model deprecations, and regional access changes.
Production handoff
Optimize for accepted tasks, not cheap tokens
Use one endpoint to route cheap tasks, fallback failures, and attribute spend by app, user, feature, or agent.
FAQ
Which provider has the lowest token price?
It changes often. DeepSeek and other open-model providers are common low-cost benchmarks, but you should verify current official pricing before committing.
Why can fallback lower total cost?
Fallback prevents repeated retries on a weak route. Paying more once for a stronger model can be cheaper than five failed cheap attempts.
What is cost per successful task?
It is total spend divided by tasks that actually meet your acceptance criteria, including retries, invalid responses, and manual rework.
Do I need a gateway?
Not if one provider is enough. Use a gateway when you need fallback, logs, routing rules, multi-provider keys, or per-user spend controls.