Cheapest model that is still capable
What is the cheapest model above our capability threshold?
As of 20 October 2026, the model ranking first for this question is MiniMax: MiniMax M3.1 Flash (free) on OpenRouter, with intelligence index 42.7 and an output price of $0.000 per million tokens. Ranked by lowest output price among models scoring at least 40 on intelligence, across 22 models for which we hold both figures. This ranking ignores speed and reliability: it is a query on price and a relayed capability score, not a verdict on which model serves you best.
How this ranking is built
Criterion: lowest output price among models scoring at least 40 on intelligence. The threshold of 40 is our stated cut-off, not a measured boundary. We say it plainly so you can disagree with it and re-rank the table yourself. Every model below the line is still in the catalogue.
This is a query, not an opinion. Both figures are shown on every row so you can check the order, and the table sorts on any column if you disagree with our criterion.
Two things to know before trusting this table. Capability scores are published by Artificial Analysis and relayed by the catalogue we read. They are not our measurement, and a score measures the model rather than the seller, so we apply it to every seller of that model. This ranking says nothing about speed or reliability, which we measure only in part: availability is published per upstream host in reliability.json and on the model pages, and we publish no latency at all, for reasons given on the data page. Prices are ours to observe, each carries the date we saw it, and we keep only the cheapest offer per model so that batch and free tiers do not crowd out the answer.
| # | Model | Seller | Intelligence index/ 10022 of 22 heldScale from 3.8 to 58.4 | Input$ / 1M tokens22 of 22 heldScale from $0.003 to $600 | Output$ / 1M tokens22 of 22 heldScale from $0.003 to $600 | Contexttokens13 of 22 heldScale from 512 to 2M | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MiniMax: MiniMax M3.1 Flash (free) | OpenRouter | 42.7 | $0.000 | $0.000 | 1 000 000 | 20 October 2026 |
| 2 | inclusionAI: Ling 3.1 Flash | OpenRouter | 41.1 | $0.075 | $0.225 | 1 000 000 | 3 November 2026 |
| 3 | Nex AGI: Nex-N2-Pro | OpenRouter | 41.7 | $0.250 | $1.00 | 262 144 | 8 September 2026 |
| 4 | MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.7 Code (batch) | OpenRouter | 43.0 | $0.950 | $4.00 | 262 144 | 27 August 2026 |
| 5 | Qwen/Qwen3.8-Max | DeepInfra | 53.4 | $1.65 | $4.951 | 256 000 | 28 October 2026 |
| 6 | gpt-6.1-terra | OpenAI first party | 51.0 | $1.00 | $5.00 | n/a | 27 October 2026 |
| 7 | grok-4.6 | xAI first party | 44.3 | $2.00 | $6.00 | 500 000 | 2 November 2026 |
| 8 | gpt-6.1-sol | OpenAI first party | 54.5 | $2.00 | $10.00 | n/a | 31 October 2026 |
| 9 | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | Anthropic first party | 54.2 | $2.00 | $10.00 | 1 000 000 | 30 October 2026 |
| 10 | Gemini 4 Argon | Google first party | 50.4 | $2.00 | $10.00 | n/a | 2 November 2026 |
| 11 | gpt-6-sol | OpenAI first party | 47.6 | $2.00 | $10.00 | n/a | 31 October 2026 |
| 12 | kimi-k3.1-pro | Moonshot AI first party | 46.0 | $2.00 | $10.00 | 1 048 576 | 3 November 2026 |
| 13 | gpt-5.6-terra | OpenAI first party | 42.1 | $2.00 | $12.00 | n/a | 31 October 2026 |
| 14 | Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic first party | 58.4 | $4.00 | $20.00 | 1 000 000 | 31 October 2026 |
| 15 | gpt-5.6-sol | OpenAI first party | 47.0 | $4.00 | $20.00 | n/a | 31 October 2026 |
| 16 | Meta: Muse Wonder | OpenRouter | 43.3 | $4.00 | $20.00 | 1 048 576 | 3 November 2026 |
| 17 | Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic first party | 50.8 | $5.00 | $25.00 | 1 000 000 | 30 October 2026 |
| 18 | Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic first party | 41.8 | $5.00 | $25.00 | n/a | 30 October 2026 |
| 19 | Claude Opus 4.7 | Anthropic first party | 40.7 | $5.00 | $25.00 | n/a | 30 October 2026 |
| 20 | gpt-6-astra | OpenAI first party | 56.9 | $10.00 | $50.00 | n/a | 31 October 2026 |
| 21 | Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic first party | 49.7 | $10.00 | $50.00 | 1 000 000 | 3 November 2026 |
| 22 | Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic first party | 49.6 | $10.00 | $50.00 | 1 000 000 | 30 October 2026 |
All 22 models meeting this criterion are listed.
A model missing from this table is missing one of the two figures, not judged. We would rather show a shorter list than fill it with guesses.