Reasoning models
Models with a reasoning or thinking mode: they work through a problem in extra tokens before they answer.
Reasoning models trade speed and tokens for accuracy on multi-step problems such as math, planning, tricky code and analysis. Most let you set an effort level, so you pay for deep thinking only when the task needs it.
Reasoning tokens are usually billed as output tokens, and output is the expensive side of the bill. A hard question can cost several times a direct answer, so measure accuracy gained per dollar on your own tasks.
The shortlist
| Model | Tier | Weights | Context | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Inputs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DeepSeek-V4-ProDeepSeek | Frontier | Open weights | 1M | $1.32 | $3.96 | Text |
| GLM-5.3Z.ai (Zhipu AI) | Frontier | Open weights | 1M | $1.40 | $4.40 | Text |
| Grok 4.7xAI | Frontier | Closed | 500K | $2 | $6 | Text, Images |
| Qwen3.8-MaxAlibaba (Qwen) | Frontier | Closed | 1M | $2 | $6 | Text, Images |
| Qwen3.8-2.4T-A95BAlibaba (Qwen) | Frontier | Open weights | 256K | $2 | $6 | Text |
| Kimi K3Moonshot AI | Frontier | Open weights | 1M | $3 | $15 | Text, Images, Video |
| Claude Opus 5.5Anthropic | Frontier | Closed | 1M | $4 | $20 | Text, Images, PDF |
| Claude Fable 5.1Anthropic | Frontier | Closed | 1M | $10 | $50 | Text, Images, PDF |
| GPT-6 AstraOpenAI | Frontier | Closed | 1.05M | $10 | $50 | Text, Images |
| gpt-oss-120bOpenAI | Advanced | Open weights | 128K | $0.15 | $0.60 | Text |
| DeepSeek-V4.1-FlashDeepSeek | Advanced | Open weights | 1M | $0.30 | $1.20 | Text, Images |
| MiniMax-M3MiniMax | Advanced | Open weights | 1M | $0.30 | $1.20 | Text, Images, Video |
| NVIDIA Nemotron 3 UltraNVIDIA | Advanced | Open weights | 1M | $0.50 | $2.20 | Text |
| Gemini 3.8 FlashGoogle | Advanced | Closed | 1M | $0.75 | $3.75 | Text, Images, Video, Audio, PDF |
| Gemini 3.6 FlashGoogle | Advanced | Closed | 1M | $0.75 | $3.75 | Text, Images, Video, Audio, PDF |
| Mistral Medium 3.5Mistral AI | Advanced | Open weights | 256K | $1.50 | $7.50 | Text, Images |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5Anthropic | Advanced | Closed | 1M | $2 | $10 | Text, Images, PDF |
| GPT-6.1 SolOpenAI | Advanced | Closed | 1.05M | $2 | $10 | Text, Images |
| Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic | Efficient | Closed | 1M | $0.10 | $0.50 | Text, Images, PDF |
| GPT-6 LunaOpenAI | Efficient | Closed | 1.05M | $0.10 | $0.50 | Text, Images |
| GLM-5.3-FlashZ.ai (Zhipu AI) | Efficient | Open weights | 1M | $0.15 | $0.50 | Text, Images, Video |
| Gemma 4 31BGoogle | Efficient | Open weights | 256K | $0.20 | $0.40 | Text, Images, Video |
| Mistral Small 4Mistral AI | Efficient | Open weights | 256K | $0.15 | $0.60 | Text, Images |
| Granite 4.2 30BIBM | Efficient | Open weights | 128K | $0.16 | $0.65 | Text |
| Gemini 3.1 Flash-LiteGoogle | Efficient | Closed | 1M | $0.25 | $1.50 | Text, Images, Video, Audio, PDF |
| Muse Glimmer 30BMeta | Efficient | Open weights | 128K | $0.35 | $1.50 | Text, Images, Video |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-LiteGoogle | Efficient | Closed | 1M | $0.30 | $2.50 | Text, Images, Video, Audio, PDF |
| Grok 4.3xAI | Efficient | Closed | 1M | $1.25 | $2.50 | Text, Images |
| Qwen3.8-27BAlibaba (Qwen) | Efficient | Open weights | 256K | $0.80 | $4 | Text, Images, Video |
| Amazon Nova 2 LiteAmazon (AWS) | Efficient | Closed | 1M | — | — | Text, Images, Video, PDF |
| Olmo 3.1 32B ThinkAi2 (Allen Institute for AI) | Efficient | Open weights | 64K | — | — | Text |
| NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning 30B-A3BNVIDIA | Compact | Open weights | 1M | $0.05 | $0.20 | Text |
| Granite 4.2 8BIBM | Compact | Open weights | 128K | $0.06 | $0.25 | Text |
| gpt-oss-20bOpenAI | Compact | Open weights | 128K | $0.075 | $0.30 | Text |
| Gemma 4 26B A4BGoogle | Compact | Open weights | 256K | $0.07 | $0.34 | Text, Images, Video |
| Qwen3.6-35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen) | Compact | Open weights | 256K | $0.10 | $0.95 | Text, Images, Video |
| Gemma 4 E4BGoogle | Compact | Open weights | 128K | — | — | Text, Images, Audio, Video |
| Phi-4-reasoning-vision-15BMicrosoft (Phi) | Compact | Open weights | 16K | — | — | Text, Images |
| Mistral Large 4Mistral AI | Frontier | Closed | 1M | $1.36 | $4.18 | Text, Images |
| Gemini 3.1 ProGoogle | Frontier | Closed | 1M | $2 | $12 | Text, Images, Video, Audio, PDF |
| Muse Spark 1.3Meta | Advanced | Closed | 1M | $1.25 | $4.25 | Text, Images, Video, PDF |
| Grok Build 0.1xAI | Efficient | Closed | 250K | $1 | $2 | Text, Images |
Ordered by status, capability tier and then price. Tiers are our editorial grouping of provider positioning and public benchmark standings, not our own test results. How we rank.
How to choose
- Use high effort for hard, high-value questions and low or no reasoning for routine ones.
- Set a budget for thinking tokens where the API supports it.
- Ask for the final answer in a structured format so it's easy to validate.
- Prompting advice differs for reasoning models; see the prompt engineering guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is a reasoning model?
A reasoning model is trained to produce an internal chain of reasoning before its final answer, often with reinforcement learning on problems that have checkable answers. It tends to do better on math, logic, planning and complex code, at the cost of more tokens and latency.
Are reasoning tokens billed?
On most APIs, yes: thinking tokens count as output tokens even when you don't see them. Check each provider's pricing page and set an effort level or thinking budget to control cost.
Other shortlists
Still choosing a model?
Send us your use case and constraints. We'll come back with a shortlist and an evaluation plan you can run on your own data.
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