Frontier AI pricing has dropped dramatically in 2026. Claude Haiku is among the cheapest closed models at $0.80/1M input. Gemini 3.1 Flash is comparable. Open-weight models like Llama 4 Scout and Mistral Small 3.1 are effectively free to run. For teams that need low cost but don't want to sacrifice quality, Claude Sonnet 4.6 at $3/1M is the best value.
The shortest way to see the safest default, the lower-cost option, and the specialist pick before you read deeper.
Claude 4 Haiku is the safest overall answer here when you want the strongest default instead of the lowest list price.
Switch the scoring lens to see whether the top answer changes when you care more about cost, speed, or long-document work.
Google / Budget / Apr 29, 2026
Best cheap AI for broad day-to-day work — now with 1M context.
Ranks models by the broadest mix of coding, writing, research, and long-context usefulness.
You need premium reasoning depth or the highest coding benchmark scores.
The fastest way to see where the recommendation shifts when your priority changes.
Fastest Anthropic model with better-than-expected writing quality
Good for support, marketing ops, and editing passes at scale
Affordable for high-frequency team usage
Less strong on deep reasoning and coding than larger models
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is now cheaper with a larger context window
UseRightAI recommendations are based on practical decision factors people actually feel in day-to-day use.
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GPT-5.2 Mini is the cheapest at $0.15/1M input tokens. Claude Haiku is $0.80/1M. Gemini 3.1 Flash is similar. Open-weight models (Llama 4 Scout, Mistral Small 3.1) are free to run via Groq or Together AI.
Yes, for the right tasks. Claude Haiku and Gemini 3.1 Flash are production-grade for summarisation, classification, extraction, and customer-support tasks. They trail premium models on complex reasoning, creative writing, and autonomous coding.
Use a tiered approach: route simple tasks (classification, summarisation) to Claude Haiku or Gemini Flash. Reserve Claude Sonnet 4.6 for writing and coding. Use Claude Opus 4.7 only for the highest-value tasks where quality justifies the premium.
Meta: Llama 3.1 8B Instruct is the lower-cost option to start with when you still need useful output at scale.
Gemini 3.1 Flash is the better pick when response speed matters more than maximum reasoning depth.
Llama 4 Scout and Mistral Small 3.1 are free to run via open-weight providers.
Claude Haiku ($0.80/1M) and Gemini 3.1 Flash are the cheapest quality closed models for API use.
GPT-5.2 Mini ($0.15/1M input) is the cheapest OpenAI option but trails Claude Haiku on quality.
Choose Llama 4 Scout or Mistral Small 3.1 for zero API cost on non-critical tasks.
Choose Claude Haiku when you need reliable quality at the lowest closed-model price.
Choose Gemini 3.1 Flash when you want the cheapest option with Google's safety and reliability guarantees.
