Tier: frontier
Context: 1.0M
Cheapest Host: OpenAI Direct
GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) API Pricing Calculator & Cheapest Provider
Live unit economics and multi-provider host arbitrage for GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) (openai/gpt-4.1).
Input tokens cost $2.00/1M, output tokens cost
$8.00/1M, and prompt cache reads drop to
$0.50/1M.
Input / Output / Cache Read
$2.00 / $8.00
Per 1M tokens · Cache Read: $0.50/1M
10,000 DAU Monthly Bill
$48,240/mo
Drops to $34,065/mo at 75% prompt cache hit rate
Speed & Context Spec
106 tok/s
Context: 1,047,576 · Max Out: 32,768
1. Multi-Provider Host Arbitrage Table for GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier)
Compare every verified inference provider hosting GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) by input price, output price, cache read discount, and throughput speed:
| Provider / Endpoint | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Cache Read / 1M | Throughput | 10K DAU Monthly Bill | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI Direct Lowest Price | $2.00 | $8.00 | $0.50 | 106 tok/s | $48,240/mo | Deploy (Route with 0% Markup Fallback) → |
| OpenRouter | $2.00 | $8.00 | $0.50 | 102 tok/s | $48,240/mo | Deploy (Unified API for 470+ Models) → |
2. Monthly SaaS Spend by DAU Scale & Prompt Cache Hit Rate
Exact monthly spend projections across 1,000 DAU, 10,000 DAU, and 50,000 DAU with 0%, 50%, 75%, and 90% prompt caching:
| Active Users (DAU) | Uncached (0% Hit) | 50% Cache Hit | 75% Cache Hit (RAG) | 90% Cache Hit (Agents) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000 DAU (1.55B tok/mo) | $4,824/mo | $3,879/mo | $3,407/mo | $3,123/mo |
| 10,000 DAU (15.5B tok/mo) | $48,240/mo | $38,790/mo | $34,065/mo | $31,230/mo |
| 50,000 DAU (77.4B tok/mo) | $241,200/mo | $193,950/mo | $170,325/mo | $156,150/mo |
3. Frequently Asked Questions (GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier))
How much does the GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) API cost per 1M tokens?
GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) (OpenAI) costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens, $8.00 per 1M output tokens, and $0.50 per 1M cached input tokens. Its context window is 1.0M (1,047,576 tokens) with 32,768 max output tokens.
What is the cheapest inference provider for GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier)?
Among 2 verified endpoints, OpenAI Direct offers the lowest blended pricing at $2.00/1M input and $8.00/1M output (106 tok/s). For maximum throughput, OpenAI Direct delivers 106 tokens/sec.
How much does GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) cost per month at 1,000, 10,000, and 50,000 DAU?
On a standard SaaS production workload (12 requests/user/day, 3,500 input + 800 output tokens), GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier) costs $4,824/month at 1,000 DAU, $48,240/month at 10,000 DAU, and $241,200/month at 50,000 DAU. Enabling 75% prompt caching reduces the 10,000 DAU bill to $34,065/month.
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GPT-4.5 Preview (Cost Trap Alert) vs GPT-4.1 (1M Context Frontier)
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