tokevenCost Calculator
How much does chatbot cost?
Compare 14 AI models for chatbot. Prices shown at 10K calls/month with default token counts.
Question answering tasks pair a user query with retrieved context for answers. Token usage depends on the context window size and the response depth. Larger context windows allow more reference material but increase the per-call cost.
What drives chatbot cost
Conversational cost compounds: every turn resends the history, so the tenth message in a thread costs several times the first. Cost grows with the square of conversation length unless you cache the prefix or truncate history. Prompt caching is not an optimization here, it is the difference between a viable and an unviable unit economic.
Recommendations
Top picks for chatbot
Best quality
GPT 5.4
91/100 confidence
Best value
GPT 5.6 Luna
85/100 confidence · $16/mo
Monthly estimates assume 2,000 input / 1,000 output tokens per call. Use the detailed page for custom calculations.
Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 29 of 2026. This snapshot is 8 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.
Frequently asked questions
How much does chatbot cost per API call?
Conversational cost compounds: every turn resends the history, so the tenth message in a thread costs several times the first. Cost grows with the square of conversation length unless you cache the prefix or truncate history. Prompt caching is not an optimization here, it is the difference between a viable and an unviable unit economic. Across the 14 models we track, a typical call uses about 2,000 input and 1,000 output tokens.
What is the cheapest model for chatbot?
GPT 5.6 Luna from GPT is the lowest-cost model we track for chatbot, at roughly $16.00 for 10,000 calls per month. It scores 85 out of 100 on this task type.
Which model is best for chatbot?
GPT 5.4 from GPT ranks highest for chatbot, scoring 91 out of 100. Confidence scores are a third-party benchmark snapshot from week 29 of 2026. This snapshot is 8 weeks old, so treat the scores as directional and validate against your own evals.
See your real chatbot costs
These are estimates based on published rates. Track your real spend with the free dashboard.