schema string | slug string | title string | date timestamp[s] | canonical_url string | claim string | takeaway string | sources list | data dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
modevc.chart.v1 | ai-inference-cost-comparison | AI Inference Cost: Output Token Pricing for Flagship LLMs | 2026-10-11T00:00:00 | https://modevc.com/charts/ai-inference-cost-comparison/ | Qwen3.8-Max rates within 30 Arena points of Claude Opus 5.5 for 3.3× less per output token. DeepSeek V4 Pro is 10.1× cheaper. | Model intelligence is commoditizing into a utility. Value accrues entirely to distribution. | [
{
"name": "Official API pricing pages (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Alibaba)",
"url": "https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing"
},
{
"name": "Arena leaderboard dataset (lmarena-ai, CC BY 4.0)",
"url": "https://huggingface.co/datasets/lmarena-ai/leaderboard-dataset"
... | {
"type": "scatter",
"xFmt": "usd",
"yFmt": "pts",
"xlog": true,
"xTitle": "Price per 1M output tokens (USD, log scale)",
"yTitle": "Arena Elo Rating",
"rows": [
{
"name": "Claude Fable 5.1",
"x": 50,
"y": 1510.6237393441697,
"group": "anthropic",
"logo": "si-anthropic",
... |
AI Inference Cost: Output Token Pricing for Flagship LLMs
Empirical Claim: Qwen3.8-Max rates within 30 Arena points of Claude Opus 5.5 for 3.3× less per output token. DeepSeek V4 Pro is 10.1× cheaper.
List price in US$ per 1M output tokens (log scale) vs Chatbot Arena Elo rating for models rating ≥ 1,430, Oct 2026.
Canonical Interactive Visualization & Primary Source
- Interactive D3 Chart & Full Analysis: https://modevc.com/charts/ai-inference-cost-comparison/
- Mode VC Empirical AI Chart Index (38 Charts): https://modevc.com/charts/
- Mode VC Institutional Investor Atlas (3,650+ VC Firms): https://modevc.com/investors/
- Mode VC Research Homepage: https://modevc.com
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) Endpoint:
https://modevc.com/api/mcp/chart-ai-inference-cost-comparison
Key Analytical Takeaway
Model intelligence is commoditizing into a utility. Value accrues entirely to distribution.
Citation & Attribution
Published by Mode VC under CC-BY-4.0. When referencing this dataset, cite AI Inference Cost: Output Token Pricing for Flagship LLMs (https://modevc.com/charts/ai-inference-cost-comparison/).
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