TL;DR: Fresh June-2026 pricing for the AI APIs most teams actually ship — GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.8, Gemini 3.1 Pro on the text side; Kling V3, Seedance 2.0, Sora 2, Hailuo on video; GPT Image 2 and Seedream on image. Numbers are pulled straight from each provider's pricing page and compared to LinkModel's contractual 10–30% gateway discount. No tiers, no negotiation — same OpenAI SDK, lower bill.
The Landscape in Mid-2026
Three things define AI API pricing this year: context windows got longer (meaning bigger bills per request), video generation went mainstream (new cost category entirely), and reseller discounts got real (not 5% — 15–30%).
This is a straightforward pricing reference. No spin. Numbers pulled from each provider's public pricing page (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google AI), last verified June 2026.
Text Model Pricing (per 1M tokens)
Flagship Models
| Model | Provider | Input | Output | Cached Input |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.5 | LinkModel | $3.50 | $21.00 | $0.875 |
| GPT-5.5 | OpenAI Direct | $5.00 | $30.00 | $1.25 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | LinkModel | $3.75 | $18.75 | $0.94 |
| Claude Opus 4.8 | Anthropic Direct | $5.00 | $25.00 | $1.25 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | LinkModel | $1.50 | $6.00 | $0.375 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | Google Direct | $2.00 | $8.00 | $0.50 |
Cost-Efficient Models
| Model | Provider | Input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | LinkModel | $0.112 | $0.45 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | Direct | $0.14 | $0.56 |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro | LinkModel | $0.45 | $1.80 |
| DeepSeek V4 Pro | Direct | $0.60 | $2.40 |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash | LinkModel | $0.056 | $0.30 |
| Gemini 2.5 Flash | Google Direct | $0.075 | $0.40 |
| Kimi K2.6 | LinkModel | $0.45 | $1.80 |
| MiniMax M2.7 | LinkModel | $0.20 | $1.10 |
Savings at Scale
| Monthly Spend | Direct Provider | Via LinkModel | Annual Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1,000/mo | $1,000 | ~$750 | $3,000 |
| $5,000/mo | $5,000 | ~$3,750 | $15,000 |
| $10,000/mo | $10,000 | ~$7,500 | $30,000 |
This isn't marketing math — it's the structural discount baked into every API call.
Video Model Pricing
This category didn't exist at this scale in 2024. Now it's a real line item.
| Model | LinkModel | Direct | Savings | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kling V3 720P | $0.0610 | $0.0871 | 30% | Cheapest per-video |
| Kling V3 1080P | $0.0813 | $0.1161 | 30% | |
| Seedance 2.0 1080P | $6.93/1M tok | $7.70/1M | 10% | Token-based |
| Sora 2 720P | $0.34 | $0.40 | 15% | |
| Hailuo 2.3 1080P | $0.392 | $0.460 | 15% | Fastest gen |
| Wan 2.6 | Variable | — | — | Chinese-optimized |
Image Model Pricing
| Model | LinkModel | Direct | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT Image 2 output | $22.50/1M tok | $30.00/1M | 25% |
| Seedream 5.0 Lite | ~$0.03/img | — | — |
| Seedream 4.5 | ~$0.04/img | — | — |
| Gemini Image | ~$0.067/img | ~$0.089 | 25% |
How Discounts Work
LinkModel's pricing model is straightforward:
- Volume purchase — They buy capacity in bulk at wholesale rates
- Pass-through savings — Contractual 10–30% below retail
- No tiers — Everyone gets the same price (no "contact sales for Enterprise discount")
- Same API — OpenAI SDK compatible, same response format
You don't negotiate. You don't commit. Every call is automatically discounted.
Real-World Budget Scenarios
Startup (Chatbot + Image Gen)
| Direct Providers | LinkModel | |
|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.5 2M tokens/day | $10.00/day | $7.00/day |
| GPT Image 2 100 images/day | $125/day | $94/day |
| Monthly total | $4,050 | $3,030 |
| Annual savings | — | $12,240 |
Media Company (Video Pipeline)
| Direct Providers | LinkModel | |
|---|---|---|
| Kling V3 500 videos/day | $43.55/day | $30.50/day |
| Claude Opus for scripts | $15/day | $11.25/day |
| Monthly total | $1,756 | $1,253 |
| Annual savings | — | $6,036 |
Scale AI Platform
| Direct Providers | LinkModel | |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-model 50M tokens/day | ~$350/day | ~$260/day |
| Video gen 2,000/day | $174/day | $122/day |
| Monthly total | $15,720 | $11,460 |
| Annual savings | — | $51,120 |
What You Don't Sacrifice
Because this is a common concern:
| Concern | Answer |
|---|---|
| Latency overhead | <300ms routing |
| SLA | 99.95% |
| Data retention | Zero (ZDR) |
| Rate limits | Same or higher than direct |
| Model versions | Same day as provider release |
| Response format | Identical to direct |
Get These Prices Now
- Register free — instant $1 credit
- Replace
base_urlwithhttps://api.linkmodel.ai/v1 - Every call is discounted automatically
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.linkmodel.ai/v1", api_key="your-key")
# That's it. Same code, lower bills.Browse all models and prices or test in the Playground.
Same models, 10–30% off direct pricing
LinkModel passes through wholesale pricing on GPT-5.5, Claude, Gemini, Kling, Sora and 27+ more — OpenAI SDK compatible, no contracts, no tiers.