Claude Fable 5.1 or GPT-6 Astra: which is cheaper?
Prices updated October 2026api-cost.ts
Answer
$1,350 a month on each: same list price
Claude Fable 5.1 and GPT-6 Astra charge the same per input and output token: at 1,000 requests a day of 2,000 input and 500 output tokens, both come to $1,350 a month.
api-cost.ts
adjust the values
Prices side by side (US$ per 1M tokens)
Item
Claude Fable 5.1
GPT-6 Astra
Input
$10.00
$10.00
Cached input
$0.25
$1.00
Output
$50.00
$50.00
Context
1,000,000
1,050,000
Example per month
$1,350
$1,350
With the same list price, the bill can differ elsewhere: caching rules and prices, each provider's long-prompt rules and the tokenizer, which doesn't produce the same token count for the same text. Test both on your own tasks.
It depends on the task. Bigger models make fewer mistakes on long reasoning and code; smaller ones answer faster and cost less. Measure with real cases.
Subscription or API?
For daily personal use, plans (Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus) usually pay off. For products, automation and variable volume, the API. See the subscription vs API calculator.
Estimate based on public prices as of October 2026. Token counts vary with the text and the model; check the official pricing page before you decide.