What AI-driven NPC dialogue costs for 5,000 players across 55 models from 7 vendors, cheapest first.
Bottom line: cheapest is Meta: Llama 3.2 1B Instruct at about $8.95/month; the median model costs $178.06; the most expensive, Anthropic: Claude Fable 5, costs $2,926. That is a 327× spread for the same workload.
Scenario: 5,000 players × 40 NPC chats/month, 800 words of lore+context in / 60 words out.
| Vendor | Model | In $/1M | Out $/1M | Est. monthly cost | Source / check |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 3.2 1B Instruct | $0.027 | $0.201 | $8.95 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 | $0.0051 | $0.64 | $11.30 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.14/$0.4245) |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct | $0.05 | $0.08 | $11.92 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 3.2 3B Instruct | $0.05 | $0.33 | $15.91 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423 | $0.091 | $0.182 | $22.27 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.14/$0.28) |
| Mistral | Mistral: Ministral 3 3B 2512 | $0.1 | $0.1 | $22.88 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Haiku 5.5 | $0.1 | $0.5 | $29.26 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6 Luna Pro | $0.1 | $0.5 | $29.26 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6 Luna | $0.1 | $0.5 | $29.26 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Mistral | Mistral: Ministral 3 8B 2512 | $0.15 | $0.15 | $34.31 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama Guard 4 12B | $0.18 | $0.18 | $41.18 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash | $0.15 | $0.6 | $41.50 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Mistral | Mistral: Mistral Small 4 | $0.15 | $0.6 | $41.50 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Mistral | Mistral: Ministral 3 14B 2512 | $0.2 | $0.2 | $45.75 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 4 Scout | $0.18 | $0.59 | $47.72 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.1/$0.3139) |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 4 Maverick | $0.1875 | $0.6525 | $50.31 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.2546/$0.85) |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Flash Vision Exp | $0.2156 | $0.6468 | $56.20 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.2242/$0.6725) |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3.2 Exp | $0.27 | $0.41 | $64.00 | source 2026-10-15 ⚠ differs from lab price ($0.28/$0.42) |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V3.2 | $0.259 | $0.8 | $67.88 | source 2026-10-15 ⚠ differs from lab price ($0.28/$0.42) |
| Google: Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite | $0.25 | $1.5 | $77.14 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches | |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423 | $0.3583 | $0.7165 | $87.68 | source 2026-10-15 ⚠ differs from lab price ($0.66/$1.98) |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 3.1 70B Instruct | $0.4 | $0.4 | $91.50 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.4/$0.56) |
| Google: Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite | $0.3 | $2.5 | $103.74 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches | |
| Mistral | Mistral: Devstral 2 2512 | $0.4 | $2.0 | $117.04 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Mistral | Mistral: Mistral Large 3 2512 | $0.5 | $1.5 | $130.34 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Meta (Llama) | Meta: Llama 3.3 70B Instruct | $0.59 | $0.79 | $138.16 | source 2026-10-15 ℹ vs market median ($0.5683/$0.72) |
| DeepSeek | DeepSeek: DeepSeek V4 Pro 0813 | $0.66 | $1.98 | $172.05 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Mistral | Mistral: Mistral Large 4 | $0.68 | $2.09 | $178.06 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Google: Gemini 3.7 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 | $219.45 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches | |
| Google: Gemini 3.6 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 | $219.45 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches | |
| Google: Gemini 3.8 Flash | $0.825 | $4.125 | $241.40 | source 2026-10-15 ⚠ differs from lab price ($0.75/$3.75) | |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok Build 0.1 | $1.0 | $2.0 | $244.72 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok 4.3 | $1.25 | $2.5 | $305.90 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent | $1.25 | $2.5 | $305.90 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok 4.20 | $1.25 | $2.5 | $305.90 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Google: Nano Banana 2.1 | $1.5 | $7.5 | $438.90 | source 2026-10-15 no 2nd source | |
| Mistral | Mistral: Mistral Medium 3.5 | $1.5 | $7.5 | $438.90 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Google: Gemini 3.5 Flash | $1.5 | $9.0 | $462.84 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches | |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok 4.7 | $2.0 | $6.0 | $521.36 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok 4.6 | $2.0 | $6.0 | $521.36 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| xAI | SpaceXAI: Grok 4.5 | $2.0 | $6.0 | $521.36 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Google: Gemini 4 Argon | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 no 2nd source | |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6.1 Sol Pro | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6.1 Sol | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 5.5 | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6 Sol Pro | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6 Sol | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Sonnet 5 | $2.0 | $10.0 | $585.20 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Opus 5.5 | $4.0 | $20.0 | $1,170 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Opus 5 | $5.0 | $25.0 | $1,463 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Opus 4.8 | $5.0 | $25.0 | $1,463 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra | $10.0 | $50.0 | $2,926 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| OpenAI | OpenAI: GPT-6 Astra Pro | $10.0 | $50.0 | $2,926 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Fable 5.1 | $10.0 | $50.0 | $2,926 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
| Anthropic | Anthropic: Claude Fable 5 | $10.0 | $50.0 | $2,926 | source 2026-10-15 ✔ matches |
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