Pricing & Cost

Output Tokens

Quick Answer

Tokens in the model's response, typically billed at higher rate than input tokens.

Output tokens are tokens in the model's generated response. APIs typically charge 2-4x more per output token than input tokens. Output token cost scales with response length. Techniques reducing output: constraining max_tokens, better prompting (shorter answers), summarization. Output optimization is less impactful than input in many cases. Long-context applications with short responses prefer per-input pricing. Cost structure matters for application design.

Last verified: 2026-04-08

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