tokevenCost Calculator
How much does code generation cost?
Compare 14 AI models for code generation. Prices shown at 10K calls/month with default token counts.
Code generation tasks send a natural language prompt and receive executable code back. Token usage tends to be input-heavy with system instructions and added context. Output scales with the complexity of the code the model generates.
What drives code generation cost
Cost here is dominated by output, not input: the model writes far more than you ask. A prompt with a short spec and a few reference files runs 2K input, but a complete module comes back at 4K output or more, so a model's output rate matters roughly twice as much as its input rate. The biggest saving is not a cheaper model: it is caching the system prompt and coding standards you resend on every call.
Recommendations
Top picks for code generation
Best quality
Claude Opus 4.8
95/100 confidence
Best value
Claude Sonnet 5
93/100 confidence · $140/mo
Budget pick
GPT 5.6 Luna
70/100 confidence · $16/mo
Monthly estimates assume 2,000 input / 4,000 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 code generation cost per API call?
Cost here is dominated by output, not input: the model writes far more than you ask. A prompt with a short spec and a few reference files runs 2K input, but a complete module comes back at 4K output or more, so a model's output rate matters roughly twice as much as its input rate. The biggest saving is not a cheaper model: it is caching the system prompt and coding standards you resend on every call. Across the 14 models we track, a typical call uses about 2,000 input and 4,000 output tokens.
What is the cheapest model for code generation?
GPT 5.6 Luna from GPT is the lowest-cost model we track for code generation, at roughly $16.00 for 10,000 calls per month. It scores 70 out of 100 on this task type.
Which model is best for code generation?
Claude Opus 4.8 from Claude ranks highest for code generation, scoring 95 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 code generation costs
These are estimates based on published rates. Track your real spend with the free dashboard.