Batch API Savings Calculator
Compare real-time vs batch API pricing.
With the default inputs, 50.0% cheaper with batch — $312.50/month saved. Enter your own numbers below to recompute instantly; the full step-by-step math is shown under the worked example.
Results update automatically as you type.
- Real-time / request
- $0.00625
- Batch / request
- $0.00313
- Monthly real-time
- $625.00
- Monthly batch
- $312.50
Most providers offer a 50% discount for asynchronous batch processing. Compare real-time and batch pricing for your workload to see the monthly savings.
How this is calculated
We price your workload at both the real-time rate and the batch rate (typically ~50% off) and show the monthly difference. Batch trades immediacy — results usually return within 24 hours — for the discount, on exactly the same tokens.
Is this a good result? What to do next
Any workload that doesn't need an instant answer should use batch: the discount is roughly half with no change in output quality. If you're paying real-time rates for evals, bulk classification, embeddings or content generation, that's money left on the table.
Typical planning ranges
- Batch discount
- ~50% off real-time
- Turnaround
- usually within 24 hours
- Ideal for
- evals, bulk jobs, embeddings
Ranges are typical planning figures to sanity-check your result, not authoritative benchmarks. Your numbers will vary with use case, volume, and vendor.
How to improve this number
- Move all non-real-time jobs to the batch API.
- Combine batch with prompt caching for stacked savings.
- Schedule large jobs overnight to fit the turnaround window.
Common mistakes
- Using real-time pricing for offline, non-urgent jobs.
- Assuming batch changes output quality — it doesn't.
When to use a different approach
For repeated-context savings, use the prompt caching savings calculator. For the base rate, use the LLM API cost calculator.
Worked example (defaults)
With the default inputs above, here is the result:
- Real-time / request
- $0.00625
- Batch / request
- $0.00313
- Monthly real-time
- $625.00
- Monthly batch
- $312.50
Sources & references
Frequently asked questions
When should I use the batch API?+
For any workload that does not need an immediate response: evals, bulk classification, embeddings, content generation. Results typically return within 24 hours at half price.
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