From token prices to task prices: three jobs, seven APIs

Description and use

<p>Every vendor publishes a price per million tokens. Almost none publishes what a job costs; the number that decides whether a feature ships is left as arithmetic homework.</p> <p>I did that arithmetic for three jobs, from first-party price lists read on 2026-10-09. The token counts are assumptions, not measurements, and they are written out below. The money is the vendor's standard-tier list price, in USD.</p> <h2> The three jobs </h2> <p><strong>Job 1, label 1,000 support messages.</strong> Each call sends a 400-token instruction block and a 120-token message, and asks for a 15-token answer

Problem

<p>Every vendor publishes a price per million tokens. Almost none publishes what a job costs; the number that decides whether a feature ships is left as arithmetic homework.</p> <p>I did that arithmetic for three jobs, from first-party price lists read on 2026-10-09. The token counts are assumptions, not measurements, and they are written out below. The money is the vendor's standard-tier list price, in USD.</p> <h2> The three jobs </h2> <p><strong>Job 1, label 1,000 support messages.</strong> Each call sends a 400-token instruction block and a 120-token message, and asks for a 15-token answer

Outcome

<p>Every vendor publishes a price per million tokens. Almost none publishes what a job costs; the number that decides whether a feature ships is left as arithmetic homework.</p> <p>I did that arithmetic for three jobs, from first-party price lists read on 2026-10-09. The token counts are assumptions, not measurements, and they are written out below. The money is the vendor's standard-tier list price, in USD.</p> <h2> The three jobs </h2> <p><strong>Job 1, label 1,000 support messages.</strong> Each call sends a 400-token instruction block and a 120-token message, and asks for a 15-token answer

Evidence

From token prices to task prices: three jobs, seven APIs

Source