Free pack · refreshed weekly · 19 records
Agent Cost Sheet
What it costs an agent to think, research and pay in October 2026: frontier model prices, deep research API prices and agent payment rails.
Updated 22 Oct 2026. Every record has a source, a source date, the time we last checked it, and a grade: A verified, B the source said it (linked, dated), C our estimate.
What this is
A dated price list for agents choosing how to spend. Every row links its source and says when we last checked it.
Read it with care
- Token prices hide how much each model writes. Some models use several times more output tokens per task.
- x402 payment counts include test and speculative activity. The tracker itself says genuine commerce is a subset.
- Deep research prices come from the Deep Research Arena table, verified 26 Aug 2026.
Records
| Grade | Record | Type | Item | Vendor | Price or status | Source date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B | Claude Opus 5.5 lists at $4 input / $20 output per 1M tokens | Model price | Claude Opus 5.5 | Anthropic | $4 / $20 per 1M tokens | 22 Sep 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Claude Fable 5.1 lists at $10 input / $50 output per 1M tokens | Model price | Claude Fable 5.1 | Anthropic | $10 / $50 per 1M tokens | 17 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | GPT-6 Astra lists at $10 input / $50 output per 1M tokens | Model price | GPT-6 Astra | OpenAI | $10 / $50 per 1M tokens | 17 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | GPT-6.1 Sol lists at $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens | Model price | GPT-6.1 Sol | OpenAI | $2 / $10 per 1M tokens | 22 Sep 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | GPT-6 Luna lists at $0.1 input / $0.5 output per 1M tokens | Model price | GPT-6 Luna | OpenAI | $0.1 / $0.5 per 1M tokens | 22 Sep 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Grok 4.7 lists at $2 input / $6 output per 1M tokens | Model price | Grok 4.7 | xAI | $2 / $6 per 1M tokens | 17 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Gemini 4 Argon lists at $2 input / $10 output per 1M tokens | Model price | Gemini 4 Argon | $2 / $10 per 1M tokens (launch price; rises to $4 / $20 in December 2026) | 17 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ | |
| B | Cursor Composer 2.5 lists at $0.5 input / $2.5 output per 1M tokens | Model price | Cursor Composer 2.5 | Cursor | $0.5 / $2.5 per 1M tokens (only runs inside Cursor) | 17 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Parallel Pro: $0.10 per run | Research API | Parallel Pro | Parallel | $0.1 to $0.1 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Parallel Ultra: $0.30 per run; 2x/4x/8x at $0.60/$1.20/$2.40 | Research API | Parallel Ultra | Parallel | $0.3 to $2.4 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Valyu DeepResearch: $0.10 fast, $0.50 standard, $2.50 heavy, $15 max per task | Research API | Valyu DeepResearch | Valyu | $0.1 to $15 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | You.com Research: $0.012 to $1.20 per call, lite to frontier | Research API | You.com Research | You.com | $0.012 to $1.2 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | Gemini Deep Research: about $1 to $3 per task (vendor estimate) | Research API | Gemini Deep Research | $1 to $3 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ | |
| B | Gemini Deep Research Max: about $3 to $7 per task (vendor estimate) | Research API | Gemini Deep Research Max | $3 to $7 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ | |
| B | OpenAI o3-deep-research: about $1 to $10 per query; $10 / $40 per 1M tokens | Research API | OpenAI o3-deep-research | OpenAI | $1 to $10 per run/task/call | 26 Aug 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | x402 has settled 192,224,498 payments worth $41,944,158 (about $0.22 average); the tracker says genuine commerce is only a subset | Payment rail | x402, all chains | x402 Foundation | 192,224,498 payments, $41,944,158 (avg $0.218) | 22 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| B | On Base, x402 passed 138 million payments by Q3 2026 and over 87% were under 10 cents | Payment rail | x402 on Base | Coinbase / Base | 138,000,000+ payments, 87% under 10 cents | 14 Oct 2026 | Source ↗ |
| A | Cloudflare Monetization Gateway charges agents per request with HTTP 402, settles USDC on Base via Coinbase's x402 facilitator; closed beta, US sellers and buyers only | Payment rail | Monetization Gateway | Cloudflare | closed beta, US only; per-request via x402 | 30 Sep 2026 | Source ↗ |
| A | Stripe and Tempo's Machine Payments Protocol lets a service answer an agent's request with a payment request; cards, BNPL and stablecoins; Parallel charges per API call with it | Payment rail | Machine Payments Protocol | Stripe + Tempo | live; cards, BNPL, stablecoins | 18 Mar 2026 | Source ↗ |
For agents
GET https://theagentmade.com/api/packs/cost-sheet GET https://theagentmade.com/packs/cost-sheet.sample.json MCP https://theagentmade.com/mcp tools: list_packs, get_pack, search, changelog