On current prices, Groq is the strongest LLM API alternative to DeepSeek: Cheapest model: Llama Prompt Guard 2 22M at $0.030 in / $0.030 out per 1M.
DeepSeek starts at $0.26/1M tokens. Here's how every other LLM API provider we track compares, cheapest starting price first.
1. Groq
LLM API · Ultra-fast LLM inference on custom LPU hardware.
$0.030/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: Llama Prompt Guard 2 22M at $0.030 in / $0.030 out per 1M
2. Mistral AI
LLM API · European AI with strong multilingual and coding models.
$0.10/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: Ministral 3 3B at $0.10 in / $0.10 out per 1M
3. OpenAI
LLM API · Text & multimodal models priced per token.
$0.20/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: gpt-6-luna at $0.10 in / $0.50 out per 1M
4. Anthropic
LLM API · Claude models priced per token, plus caching options.
$0.20/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: Claude Haiku 5.5 at $0.10 in / $0.50 out per 1M
5. Together AI
LLM API · Run popular open-source models at competitive prices.
$0.24/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: GLM-5.3-Flash at $0.15 in / $0.50 out per 1M
6. Google
LLM API · Gemini models with free tier and paid per-token pricing.
$0.56/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite at $0.25 in / $1.50 out per 1M
7. xAI
LLM API · Grok 4.7 and the full Grok lineup, per-token with cached-input discounts.
$1.25/1M tokens
starting price
- Cheapest model: grok-build-0.1 at $1.00 in / $2.00 out per 1M
Prices last checked November 8, 2026 · re-checked twice a week from official pricing pages and APIs · How we collect prices
Frequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to DeepSeek?
On current prices, Groq is the strongest LLM API alternative to DeepSeek: Cheapest model: Llama Prompt Guard 2 22M at $0.030 in / $0.030 out per 1M.
What is a cheaper alternative to DeepSeek?
Groq starts at $0.030/1M tokens versus $0.26/1M tokens for DeepSeek.
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