Mid-tier
US$0.25
GPT-5 mini
OpenAI
OpenAI · Mid-tier · US$2.50 input/1M · US$10.00 output/1M · 128K context
Typical monthly cost
US$54.72
≈ per day
US$2.49
Blended cost/1M
US$3.09
Context window
128K
GPT-4o from OpenAI is a mid-tier model priced at US$2.50 per 1M input tokens and US$10.00 per 1M output tokens. For a typical solo-developer workload (8 hours/day, 22 days/month — 1 medium feature, 5 small bug fixes, 4 PR reviews, 2 stack-trace debugs, ~1500 lines of TypeScript, 1 large-doc read, with prompt caching at the default mix) GPT-4o costs about US$55/month. The 128K-token context window covers single-file workloads comfortably.
Move the slider or switch task mix — values update live.
Monthly budget
US$100 / month
≈ $23/wk · ≈ $4.55/day
on GPT-4o
Input tokens
45.3M
Output tokens
1.5M
Total tokens
46.8M
Per month this budget delivers
At the default coding-agent mix with 50% cache hits.
The 22-day month is based on the median working-day count across DE/US.
| Activity | Count | Per task | Daily | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medium feature (10–15 files) | 1 | US$0.87 | US$0.87 | US$19.18 |
| Small bug fix | 5 | US$0.07 | US$0.34 | US$7.51 |
| PR review | 4 | US$0.08 | US$0.31 | US$6.71 |
| Debug from stack trace | 2 | US$0.14 | US$0.28 | US$6.22 |
| Read a large doc | 1 | US$0.11 | US$0.11 | US$2.39 |
| Micro-interaction (explain / lint fix) | 30 | US$0.00 | US$0.12 | US$2.56 |
| Lines of TypeScript | 1,500 | US$0.00 | US$0.46 | US$10.15 |
| Total | US$2.49 | US$54.72 | ||
The 1500-lines-of-TS row models ~1000 lines read (cache-hit) + ~500 lines written. Headline figures are precise to ~5% — see the FAQ.
What each monthly budget buys on this model (typical solo-developer day, 22 working days).
| Monthly budget | Medium features | PR reviews | Debug sessions | Lines of TS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical (≈ $55) | 62 | 717 | 387 | 177,940 |
| $50/month | 57 | 655 | 353 | 162,601 |
| $200/month | 229 | 2,622 | 1,414 | 650,406 |
| $500/month | 573 | 6,557 | 3,536 | 1,626,016 |
| $2000/month | 2,293 | 26,229 | 14,146 | 6,504,065 |
Typical mix: coding-agent (85% input, 50% cache hits). Values show the maximum count of each task type at that budget.
Coding
Trained or post-trained for code generation tasks.
Reasoning
Not supported
Multimodal
Accepts images alongside text.
Prompt cache
Cache reads billed at ~10% of input price — cuts agent costs sharply.
Batch API
50% off when you accept up to 24-hour turnaround.
Tool use
Native function-calling / tool-use API support.
Long context
Not supported
Extended thinking
Not supported
Total models
6
Median input/1M
US$1.63
Median output/1M
US$8.00
Input range
US$0.25–US$2.50
Verified: 2026-05-07
Running the realistic solo-developer day (1 medium feature + 5 small bug fixes + 4 PR reviews + 2 debug sessions + ~1500 lines of TypeScript + 1 large-doc read, 22 working days) on GPT-4o costs about US$55/month. Heavier workloads scale proportionally; lighter workloads cost less.
128K tokens total, with up to 16K of output. That fits a few dozen source files in a single call.
Providers charge US$10.00 per 1M output tokens against US$2.50 per 1M input — output requires real compute, input comes mostly from cache. Coding agents read many files (input-heavy) and emit compact diffs (low output), so total spend is usually input-driven.
Cache reads typically cost only 10% of the regular input rate. On a coding-agent mix with 50% cache hits, that saves roughly 45% on input — which is about 38% off your total bill on input-heavy workloads. Anthropic models charge a one-time cache-write surcharge (25% over input) that pays for itself after 2–3 hits.
Yes, if you can tolerate up to 24-hour turnaround: batch input/output are 50% cheaper than real-time rates. Perfect for nightly code reviews, bulk refactors or pre-merge analysis — wrong for inner-loop editing where you need an answer in seconds.
Open the full calculator with your own budget, task mix and region (US or DE with 19% VAT).
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