# What 13,807 real API calls actually cost (markdown mirror)

Source: https://aiapi-pro.com/blog/what-llm-calls-actually-cost-2026

Measured from NovAI usage logs over a 30-day window ending 2026-10-22: 13,807 paid calls, free-tier calls excluded. Average request ~40K input tokens, 815 output tokens.

## The distribution

| Percentile | Cost per call | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| p10 | $0.00003 | Short prompt on the cheapest model |
| p25 | $0.00020 | Chat turn, small context |
| **p50 (median)** | **$0.0048** | Typical assistant turn with retrieved context |
| p75 | $0.0133 | Longer prompt, more output |
| p90 | $0.0279 | Large context or pricier model |
| p99 | $0.3846 | Long-context flagship call |

Mean: **$0.0175** — 3.6x the median, because the tail is heavy.

## What the free tier covers

10 free-model calls/day at median cost = ~$0.05/day (~$1.45/month at paid rates). Enough to check latency, compare output on your prompts, wire an integration end-to-end. Not enough for production.

## When a top-up pays for itself

| Workload | At median | At mean |
|---|---|---|
| 20 calls/day, 30 days | $2.90 | $10.50 |
| 50 calls/day, 30 days | $7.20 | $26.20 |
| 100 calls/day, 30 days | $14.50 | $52.40 |
| 500 calls/day, 30 days | $72.50 | $262.00 |

| Top-up | Calls at median | Calls at mean |
|---|---|---|
| $5 | ~1,040 | ~286 |
| $5 + 25% first-top-up bonus ($6.25) | ~1,300 | ~357 |
| $25 + bonus ($31.25) | ~6,510 | ~1,790 |

## Two rules for the tail

1. Route by size: short requests to cheap models, long ones to whichever model handles them cheapest.
2. Cap the tail: a hard input-token ceiling per request makes the bill predictable.

## FAQ

**How much does a typical LLM API call cost?**
Across 13,807 paid calls in a 30-day window, the median call cost $0.0048 and the mean cost $0.0175. The mean is higher because a small number of long-context or flagship-model calls dominate the tail: p90 is $0.028 and p99 is $0.385.

**What does the free tier cover in dollar terms?**
At the median call cost, 10 free calls per day is about $0.05 per day - enough to measure latency, output quality and integration behaviour, not enough to run a production workload.

**How many calls does a $5 top-up buy?**
About 1,000 calls at the median cost, or about 285 calls at the mean cost. On a first top-up the 25% bonus raises that to roughly 1,250 and 355 calls respectively.

**When should I top up instead of staying on the free tier?**
When your workload needs more than 10 calls per day or 5 requests per minute, or when you move from evaluation to production. At the mean call cost, 100 calls per day is about $52 per 30-day month.