# Cheapest model that is still capable

As of 18 September 2026, the model ranking first for this question is Upstage: Solar Pro 4 on OpenRouter, with intelligence index 41.6 and an output price of $0.360 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.

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.

22 models meet this criterion; 22 are listed below.
Scores come from Artificial Analysis, relayed by the catalogue we read, and are not our own measurement. Prices are ours, each carrying the day we observed it. Full provenance per value: https://bertrande.com/en/best/cheapest-capable/answer.json

| # | Model | Seller | Intelligence index | Output $/1M | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Upstage: Solar Pro 4 | OpenRouter | 41.6 | $0.360 | 2026-09-18T16:15:59Z |
| 2 | GLM-5.3-Flash | Z.ai (first party) | 41.9 | $0.500 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 3 | Nex AGI: Nex-N2-Pro | OpenRouter | 41.7 | $1.00 | 2026-09-08T02:26:18Z |
| 4 | Qwen: Qwen3.6 Plus | OpenRouter | 40.5 | $1.95 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 5 | grok-build-0.1 | xAI (first party) | 40.7 | $2.00 | 2026-09-18T02:46:01Z |
| 6 | Gemini 3.8 Flash | Google (first party) | 41.2 | $3.75 | 2026-09-18T01:49:01Z |
| 7 | MoonshotAI: Kimi K2.7 Code (batch) | OpenRouter | 43.0 | $4.00 | 2026-08-27T16:12:18Z |
| 8 | GLM-5.3 | Z.ai (first party) | 44.9 | $4.40 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 9 | Qwen/Qwen3.8-Max | DeepInfra | 53.4 | $4.951 | 2026-09-15T10:09:40Z |
| 10 | Qwen: Qwen3.8 Max (0902) | OpenRouter | 45.4 | $6.00 | 2026-09-16T04:11:05Z |
| 11 | grok-4.6 | xAI (first party) | 44.4 | $6.00 | 2026-09-18T02:46:01Z |
| 12 | Qwen/Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95B | DeepInfra | 40.0 | $6.00 | 2026-09-18T02:52:21Z |
| 13 | gpt-5.6-terra | OpenAI (first party) | 42.3 | $12.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 14 | OpenAI: GPT-5.4 | OpenRouter | 53.1 | $15.00 | 2026-09-18T04:16:25Z |
| 15 | kimi-k3 | Moonshot AI (first party) | 43.8 | $15.00 | 2026-09-18T02:12:37Z |
| 16 | gpt-5.6-sol | OpenAI (first party) | 47.1 | $20.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 17 | Claude Opus 4.7 | Anthropic (first party) | 55.0 | $25.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 18 | Claude Opus 5 | Anthropic (first party) | 50.7 | $25.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 19 | Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic (first party) | 42.0 | $25.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 20 | Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic (first party) | 53.4 | $50.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |
| 21 | gpt-6-astra | OpenAI (first party) | 52.8 | $50.00 | 2026-09-18T02:26:30Z |
| 22 | Claude Fable 5 | Anthropic (first party) | 49.7 | $50.00 | 2026-09-18T01:22:49Z |

Source: https://bertrande.com/en/best/cheapest-capable/
License: CC-BY-4.0, reuse with attribution.