LLM API comparison

Topics

Answer in brief

10 short entries on the questions people ask around LLM API comparison. Each opens with its answer, then gives the detail and the terms behind it.

All topics

Price

Price per million tokens, in and out

LLM APIs are priced per million tokens, with one price for the tokens you send and a higher one for the tokens the model writes.

Context

Context window and output limit

The context window is how much a model can read in one request, and the output limit is how much it may write, and both are set by the host as well as the model.

Hosts

Who serves the model: makers and hosts

An open model is served by its maker and by independent hosts, and each sets its own price, window and limits for the same weights.

Compatibility

OpenAI-compatible APIs and clients

An OpenAI-compatible API accepts the same requests as the most widely used client format, so switching to it means changing a base URL, a key and a model name.

Precision

Is the same model the same on every host?

No: hosts can run the same open model at different precision, with different windows and output limits, so answers and prices both vary under one model name.

Limits

Rate limits and speed: what a price page leaves out

Rate limits and speed decide whether an API can carry your traffic, and neither is on most price pages.

Accounts

One API for many models, or one key per host

One API that serves many models costs you one key, one bill and one client, while going host by host can shave the price of each model at the cost of managing them all.

Practical

An LLM API comparison in ten minutes

Ten minutes is enough to compare two LLM APIs on the things that change your bill and your code: price in and out, window, output limit, precision and client.

Models

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash: comparing the APIs that serve it

DeepSeek V4.1 Flash is an open model served by many hosts, so the API you pick for it sets its price, its output limit and its precision.

Models

GLM 5.3: comparing the APIs that serve it

GLM 5.3 is an open text model with a long context window, listed by many hosts at prices that spread widely.

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

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.
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.
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.
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. “Topics.” Content reviewed 12 Nov 2026. https://comparellmapis.com/topics