Cheapest GPT-5.6 Terra API: XCLI is 98% below the official price
GPT-5.6 Terra costs $2.00/$12 per 1M tokens from OpenAI. The cheapest quote is XCLI: $0.044 in, $0.260 out. Full table and buying checklist below.
| # | Provider | 1M input | 1M output | Discount | Tokens per $100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | Official list | $2.00 | $12.00 | 0% | 27.3M |
| 1 | $0.044 | $0.260 | −98% | 1.25B | |
| 2 | $0.100 | $0.600 | −95% | 545M | |
| 3 | $0.120 | $0.720 | −94% | 455M | |
| 4 | $0.300 | $1.80 | −85% | 182M | |
| 5 | $0.300 | $1.80 | −85% | 182M | |
| 6 | $0.300 | $1.80 | −85% | 182M | |
| 7 | $1.47 | $8.81 | −27% | 37.1M |
Tokens per $100 assume a “code” mix: 5 input tokens per output token. Prices are crawled; verify them on the provider page before buying.
What to check before buying
- Test the key with the free API checker — it verifies the endpoint responds, without sending tokens.
- Compare the blended cost for your workload, not just the input price: output tokens dominate in agent workloads.
- Check uptime and minimum top-up: the cheapest provider is useless if it is down half the day.