Arithmetic
How to work out tokens per dollar
Tokens per dollar is one million divided by the price per million tokens, worked out once for input and once for output.
What a dollar buys
Topics
Answer in brief
10 short entries on the questions people ask around what a dollar buys. Each opens with its answer, then gives the detail and the terms behind it.
All topics
Input and output
Input tokens against output tokens
A dollar buys far more input tokens than output tokens, because output is priced higher on nearly every listing.
Mix
Why the mix matters
What a dollar buys depends on your mix of input to output tokens, because the two are priced apart and the dollar is split between them.
Mix
Blended tokens per dollar
A blended figure folds input and output into one number at a fixed mix, commonly three input tokens to one output token, and it is only right for work near that mix.
Units
Tokens, words and pages
A token is a piece of a word, and how many tokens a page becomes depends on the model’s tokenizer, so a million tokens is not the same amount of text on every model.
Input
Cached input tokens per dollar
A cached input rate is a lower price for the repeated opening of a prompt, so on repeat-heavy work the same dollar buys more input tokens.
Output
Reasoning tokens and what a dollar returns
Reasoning tokens are output a model spends thinking before it answers, and they are billed at the output price, so they lower the visible answer you get for a dollar.
Scenarios
From tokens per dollar to tasks per dollar
Tokens per dollar becomes useful when you divide it by the tokens one real task takes, which gives tasks per dollar.
Model choice
Tokens per dollar by model size
A smaller model returns many more tokens per dollar than the full model of its family, and choosing the size is the largest single lever on what a dollar buys.
GPUs
Tokens per dollar on a rented GPU
On a rented GPU, tokens per dollar is the tokens the machine produces in an hour divided by its hourly price, so it depends on how busy you keep the card.
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
- Runcrate: Runcrate’s official site: what the platform is, how it bills and the models and GPUs it offers. Read 12 Nov 2026.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. “Topics.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://tokensperdollar.dev/topics