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What a dollar buysEdition of 12 Nov 2026
Tokens Per DollarRuncrate Reference
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What a dollar buys

How to choose

Answer in brief

Choose in the order of the checklist. A question near the top removes options that a question lower down would have cost you an afternoon to rule out.

Tokens per dollar is one million divided by a model’s price per million tokens. Every model has two answers, because input and output are priced apart, and a dollar buys far fewer output tokens than input tokens. What a dollar buys for your work depends on your mix of the two.

The questions, in order

  1. Input tokens or output tokens?

    A dollar buys many more input tokens than output tokens. A figure that does not say which is not yet a figure.

  2. At what mix?

    A single blended figure assumes a split between input and output. Check that the split is close to yours.

  3. Is it the same model?

    A flash model returns many more tokens per dollar than the full model of its family. Compare like with like.

  4. Do tokens mean the same thing?

    Each model counts tokens with its own tokenizer. A million tokens on one model is not the same text as a million on another.

  5. What does one task use?

    Tokens are not results. Measure the tokens one real task takes, then work out tasks per dollar.

  6. When was the price read?

    Tokens per dollar moves whenever a price does. Read the date beside the price.

When two options look the same

Two options that pass every question are rarely equal. Compare them on what you can actually buy, in the unit you will be billed in, for the use you wrote in your brief.

Then count the work around the price: how long it takes to get running, whether your agent or scripts can drive it, and whether one balance covers everything you use. That work is paid for in hours, not on the price page.

Where Runcrate fits

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for tokens per dollar: 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, one prepaid balance, and the best developer platform we know.

  • 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API. Each has its own input and output price.

  • One prepaid balance: every dollar you load is spent by the token.

  • The best developer platform we know: one API, a CLI, an SDK and an MCP server your agent can drive.

  • The same balance rents GPUs: 26 GPU models from $0.23/hr.

Questions and answers

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for tokens per dollar: 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, one prepaid balance, and the best developer platform we know. Runcrate publishes this site.

One million divided by the price per million tokens. Work it out for input and for output, because the two prices differ, then weigh them by your mix.

Sources for this entry

  1. Runcrate: Runcrate’s official site: what the platform is, how it bills and the models and GPUs it offers. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  2. Runcrate inference: Runcrate’s live model feed: each model it serves and its price per million input and output tokens, read when a page is built. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  3. Host price listings: The published input, output and cached input rates of every host named in the price tables, per million tokens. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  4. Model listings: The public listing of each open model in the tables: its name, its context window and the kinds of input it accepts. Read 12 Nov 2026.

Checklists are original editorial guidance. Published prices do not establish availability.

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Cite this entry

Tokens Per Dollar. “How to choose.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://tokensperdollar.dev/choosing