What does the API cost per user — and is a subscription cheaper?
A per-token price tells you nothing about your business until you multiply it by users and requests. Enter your users, requests per user, and tokens per request to see the API cost per user, how it compares with a subscription plan, and how many paying users cover the bill.
Configure your usage and pricing
Estimated cost per user
This prices LLM inference/token cost only. Revenue and subscription figures are your own inputs, in USD — they are not provider prices. Hosting, support, payment fees, and tool fees are not included.
Break-even is shown as "—" when revenue per user is zero, because dividing by zero has no meaning. A positive "saving vs subscription" means the API route is cheaper per user than the subscription plan you entered; a negative value means the subscription is cheaper. This is an estimate, not a billing guarantee.
Worked examples (same usage, only revenue per user changes)
1,000 users, 100 requests per user per month, 1,500 input / 500 output tokens per request, GPT-5.4 Mini, subscription plan $20 per seat. Every figure below is computed by the same engine as the calculator above.
| Revenue per user / month | API cost per user / month (Likely) | Break-even users (Likely) |
|---|---|---|
| $10.00 | $0.3375 | 34 |
| $20.00 | $0.3375 | 17 |
| $50.00 | $0.3375 | 7 |
Caveats
This is an estimate, not a billing guarantee. Revenue and subscription figures are your own inputs, not provider prices. Hosting, support, payment fees, and tool fees are not included. Break-even is undefined when revenue per user is zero.