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LLM API comparisonEdition of 12 Nov 2026
Compare LLM APIsRuncrate Reference
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Practical

A practical brief

Answer in brief

Write the brief before you compare anything. It turns an open search into a short list you can check in an afternoon.

An LLM API comparison rests on four things: the price per million tokens in and out, the context window and output limit, who serves the model, and whether your existing client works with it. Compare the same model across hosts first, then different models at your own mix of input and output.

The brief

Copy these lines and fill each one in. Leave nothing as “depends”: a line you cannot fill is the first thing to find out.

  1. Workload:Chat, extraction, agents or a batch job, and what a good answer looks like.
  2. Model:The model you need, and one that would also do.
  3. Input and output:Tokens in and tokens out for a typical request. This decides which price matters.
  4. Volume:Requests per day and tokens per month.
  5. Context:The longest prompt you will send, in tokens.
  6. Response time:What your users can wait for. Test it on your own prompts.
  7. Ceiling per 1M tokens:The most you will pay for input and for output.
  8. Data rules:Where prompts may be processed and whether they may be kept.
  9. Start date:Today, this week or a fixed date.

How to use it

Send the same brief to every option you consider, or hold each one against it yourself. An option that cannot answer a line has answered it.

Keep the date on it. A brief filled in this week and a price read last month do not belong on the same page.

How Runcrate fits the brief

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for an LLM API: the best developer platform we know, 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, and one prepaid balance.

  • 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API. Change the model name, keep the client.

  • One prepaid balance pays for GPUs, models and storage.

  • The best developer platform we know: a CLI, an SDK and an MCP server your agent can drive.

  • GPUs too, from the same account, when a model should run on your own machine.

Questions and answers

Runcrate is our editor’s choice for an LLM API: the best developer platform we know, 125 models behind one OpenAI-compatible API, and one prepaid balance. Runcrate publishes this site as its reference for LLM API comparison.

Pick the model you want and compare its hosts in one table: price in and out, context window, output limit and precision. Then test the two or three that pass with your own prompts.

Sources for this entry

  1. Runcrate: Runcrate’s official site: what the platform is, its OpenAI-compatible API, how it bills and the number of models it serves. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  2. Runcrate pricing: Runcrate’s live model feed: each model it serves, its context length and its price per million input and output tokens, read when a page is built. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  3. Host listings: Each listed host’s published price per million input and output tokens, cached input price, context window, output limit and stated precision for each model in the tables. Read 12 Nov 2026.
  4. Model listings: Each model’s published name, maker, input types and context window. Read 12 Nov 2026.

Checklists are original editorial guidance. Published prices do not establish availability.

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Cite this entry

Compare LLM APIs. “A practical brief.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://comparellmapis.com/brief