Completion Cost Calculator
Calculate the dollar cost of an LLM completion based on output tokens and pricing.
Inputs
Completion Cost
$0.007500
Step by step
Cost = tokens ÷ 1M × price
500 ÷ 1,000,000 × $15
= $0.007500
How it works
LLM providers charge per token for generated output, typically at a higher rate than input tokens. This calculator multiplies the number of output tokens by the per-million-token pricing to determine the cost of a single completion.
Formula
Cost
cost = (output_tokens / 1,000,000) × price_per_million
- price_per_million
- Dollar cost per 1 million output tokens
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are output tokens more expensive?
Generation requires sequential autoregressive decoding which is computationally more expensive per token than processing input tokens in parallel during the prefill phase.
How do I reduce completion costs?
Use shorter max_tokens limits, request concise responses in your prompt, use a smaller/cheaper model for simple tasks, or batch requests during off-peak hours.