A developer testing a new uncensored chatbot with short prompts
If you send 500,000 input tokens and receive 200,000 output tokens, the cost is calculated as follows: (500,000 / 1,000,000) * $0.15 + (200,000 / 1,000,000) * $0.50 = $0.075 + $0.10 = $0.175. This small test costs less than twenty cents, making it ideal for iterative development.
A creator running a high-volume NSFW chat application
For a workload of 10,000,000 input tokens and 2,000,000 output tokens, the cost is: (10,000,000 / 1,000,000) * $0.15 + (2,000,000 / 1,000,000) * $0.50 = $1.50 + $1.00 = $2.50. You can scale your usage up or down without worrying about fixed monthly base rates.
A researcher performing long-context analysis
If you process 5,000,000 input tokens and get 500,000 output tokens, the cost is: (5,000,000 / 1,000,000) * $0.15 + (500,000 / 1,000,000) * $0.50 = $0.75 + $0.25 = $1.00. The prepaid balance covers these costs exactly, with no surprise charges for errors.