Value

# LLM price vs performance

> 17 models sit on the price-performance frontier as of October 2026: no other model is both cheaper and better. It runs from gpt-oss-20b ($0.036 blended, 32.5) to GPT-6 Astra ($20, 70.8).
- Canonical page: https://noometry.com/llm-value
- Last updated: 2026-10-10
- Title: LLM Price vs Performance (October 2026): Best Value Models

17 models sit on the price-performance frontier as of October 2026: no other model is both cheaper and better. It runs from gpt-oss-20b ($0.036 blended, 32.5) to GPT-6 Astra ($20, 70.8).

Last verified October 10, 2026

## The frontier

| Model | Provider | Blended $/M | Index |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [gpt-oss-20b](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-oss-20b) | OpenAI | $0.036 | 32.5 |
| [Qwen3.7 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/qwen3-7-flash) | Alibaba (Qwen) | $0.055 | 39.9 |
| [Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B](https://noometry.com/models/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b) | NVIDIA | $0.0875 | 40.6 |
| [Gemma 4 26B A4B IT](https://noometry.com/models/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it) | Google | $0.11 | 43.5 |
| [Hy3](https://noometry.com/models/hy3) | Tencent | $0.14 | 44.2 |
| [MiMo-V2.6-Flash](https://noometry.com/models/mimo-v2-6-flash) | Xiaomi | $0.18 | 48.5 |
| [Claude Haiku 5.5](https://noometry.com/models/claude-haiku-5-5) | Anthropic | $0.20 | 49.5 |
| [GPT-6 Luna](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-6-luna) | OpenAI | $0.20 | 53.3 |
| [DeepSeek V4 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/deepseek-v4-flash) | DeepSeek | $0.26 | 53.6 |
| [GPT-5.6 Luna](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-5-6-luna) | OpenAI | $0.45 | 54.6 |
| [Gemini 3.7 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/gemini-3-7-flash) | Google | $1.50 | 59.8 |
| [Gemini 3.8 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/gemini-3-8-flash) | Google | $1.50 | 61.8 |
| [Claude Sonnet 5.5](https://noometry.com/models/claude-sonnet-5-5) | Anthropic | $4 | 61.9 |
| [GPT-6.1 Sol](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-6-1-sol) | OpenAI | $4 | 65.6 |
| [Claude Opus 5.5](https://noometry.com/models/claude-opus-5-5) | Anthropic | $8 | 68.6 |
| [Claude Fable 5.1](https://noometry.com/models/claude-fable-5-1) | Anthropic | $20 | 69.0 |
| [GPT-6 Astra](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-6-astra) | OpenAI | $20 | 70.8 |

## Most points per dollar

| Model | Blended $/M | Index | Points per $ |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [gpt-oss-20b](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-oss-20b) | $0.036 | 32.5 | 903 |
| [Qwen3.7 Flash](https://noometry.com/models/qwen3-7-flash) | $0.055 | 39.9 | 726 |
| [Granite 4.0 Micro](https://noometry.com/models/granite-4-0-micro) | $0.0408 | 29.0 | 713 |
| [Gemma 3 4B](https://noometry.com/models/gemma-3-4b) | $0.05 | 28.1 | 563 |
| [Mistral Small 3](https://noometry.com/models/mistral-small-3) | $0.0575 | 31.2 | 543 |
| [gpt-oss-120b](https://noometry.com/models/gpt-oss-120b) | $0.0703 | 36.3 | 517 |
| [Amazon Nova Micro](https://noometry.com/models/amazon-nova-micro) | $0.0613 | 30.4 | 496 |
| [Mercury 2.5](https://noometry.com/models/mercury-2-5) | $0.0675 | 33.5 | 496 |
| [Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B](https://noometry.com/models/nemotron-3-nano-30b-a3b) | $0.0875 | 40.6 | 464 |
| [Nemotron 3.5 Lightning](https://noometry.com/models/nemotron-3-5-lightning) | $0.0875 | 40.0 | 457 |
| [Gemma 3 12B](https://noometry.com/models/gemma-3-12b) | $0.075 | 32.1 | 428 |
| [Gemma 4 26B A4B IT](https://noometry.com/models/gemma-4-26b-a4b-it) | $0.11 | 43.5 | 407 |
| [Llama 3.1-8B](https://noometry.com/models/llama-3-1-8b) | $0.0575 | 23.0 | 400 |
| [Granite 4.2 8B](https://noometry.com/models/granite-4-2-8b) | $0.11 | 40.5 | 377 |
| [Phi-4](https://noometry.com/models/phi-4) | $0.0875 | 31.2 | 357 |
| [Qwen Turbo](https://noometry.com/models/qwen-turbo) | $0.0875 | 27.1 | 310 |
| [Gemma 3 27B](https://noometry.com/models/gemma-3-27b) | $0.10 | 30.8 | 308 |
| [Hy3](https://noometry.com/models/hy3) | $0.14 | 44.2 | 306 |
| [Amazon Nova Lite](https://noometry.com/models/amazon-nova-lite) | $0.10 | 31.9 | 304 |
| [Qwen3.5-9B](https://noometry.com/models/qwen3-5-9b) | $0.11 | 33.8 | 300 |

[Value rankings by category →](https://noometry.com/best/best-value-overall)

## Frequently asked questions

### Which AI model is the best value?

17 models sit on the price-performance frontier as of October 2026: no other model is both cheaper and better. It runs from gpt-oss-20b ($0.036 blended, 32.5) to GPT-6 Astra ($20, 70.8).

### What is the price-performance frontier?

The set of models that no other model beats on both price and score. If a model is not on it, something cheaper scores at least as well.

### Cite this page

Noometry. (2026). LLM price vs performance. Retrieved October 10, 2026, from https://noometry.com/llm-value

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