Methodology
API value
“$200 a month for $7,000 of tokens. If you actually use it.”
What the number means
API value = what one month of a plan's included usage would cost at the vendor's own pay-as-you-go API list prices, if you use the binding limit (usually weekly) in full every week. It's a ceiling, not a typical bill: most people use far less.
Below roughly 20% of a Claude plan's weekly limit, paying per token is cheaper than the subscription (Wokey's break-even, Oct 2026). Real value depends on your model mix, cache-hit rate and how much of the limit you use. Each row shows a range, never one magic number.
We only use official vendor numbers or real measurements. If a vendor publishes no allowance and nobody has credibly measured it, the row says not published. We don't fill the gap with a guess.
Confidence levels
- high Computed from a published dollar or credit allowance that is drawn down at published API rates. Exact.
- medium Computed from the vendor's own credit math with a stated workload mix, or measured on many real accounts.
- low One controlled test, scaled from other tiers, a vendor's rough estimate, or a measurement currently being rechecked.
Last reviewed 2026-10-20. Monthly = weekly × 4.345.
API value by plan
| Tool | Plan | Price | API value | × price | Confidence | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codex | Plus | $20/mo | $162–253/mo | ~8.1–13× | low | measured |
| Codex | Pro 100 | $100/mo | $1k–1.4k/mo | ~10–14× | low | scaled |
| Codex | Pro 200 | $200/mo | $2.1k–2.9k/mo | ~10–14× | low | measured |
| Codex | Pro 500 | $500/mo | $5.2k–7k/mo | ~10–14× | low | measured |
| Codex | Business (Standard seat) | $25/mo | $162–253/mo | ~6.5–10× | low | scaled |
| Claude | Pro | $20/mo | $738–1,173/mo | ~37–59× | medium | measured |
| Claude | Max 5x | $100/mo | $3.6k–5.9k/mo | ~36–59× | low | scaled |
| Claude | Max 20x | $200/mo | $7.1k–11.7k/mo | ~36–59× | medium | measured |
| Cursor + Grok | Free | Free | not published | — | — | not published |
| Cursor + Grok | Plus | $8/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Cursor + Grok | Premium | $30/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Cursor + Grok | Super | $100/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Cursor + Grok | Ultra | $200/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Cursor + Grok | Pro (legacy $20) | $20/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Cursor + Grok | Pro+ (legacy) | $60/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| GitHub | Free | Free | not published | — | — | not published |
| GitHub | Pro | $10/mo | $15/mo | ~1.5× | high | computed |
| GitHub | Pro+ | $39/mo | $70/mo | ~1.8× | high | computed |
| GitHub | Max | $100/mo | $200/mo | ~2× | high | computed |
| GitHub | Business | $19/mo | $19/mo | ~1× | high | computed |
| Gemini | StandardClosed to new signups | $22.80/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Gemini | EnterpriseClosed to new signups | $54/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Gemini | Free / individual (Google login)Retired | Free | not published | — | — | not published |
| GLM | Lite | $18/mo | $71–151/mo | ~3.9–8.4× | medium | computed |
| GLM | Pro | $80/mo | $425–907/mo | ~5.3–11× | medium | computed |
| GLM | Max | $168/mo | $992–2,117/mo | ~5.9–13× | medium | computed |
| Kimi | Plus | $19/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Kimi | Pro | $39/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Kimi | Max | $99/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Kimi | Ultra | $199/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| MiniMax | Go | $22/mo | $131–178/mo | ~6–8.1× | low | computed |
| MiniMax | Explore | $55/mo | $393–534/mo | ~7.1–9.7× | low | computed |
| MiniMax | Build | $132/mo | $963–1,309/mo | ~7.3–9.9× | low | computed |
| Qwen | ProClosed to new signups | $50/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Qwen | Lite | $8/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Qwen | Essential | $16/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Qwen | Standard | $25/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
| Qwen | Pro | $80/mo | not published | — | — | not published |
Ranges are monthly, assuming the binding limit is used in full every week. Claude Max's separate $100/$200 of included API credits is not counted.
Assumptions and sources, plan by plan
Codex
Plus$20/mo→ $162–253/mo (~8.1–13×)low
Low end: SemiAnalysis GPT-6 Astra-only test ($162/mo). High end: Wokey measured $58/week on 8 accounts (Oct 12–19). Wokey flags this week as down 63% in tokens and 37% in API value vs Oct 1–8 with no OpenAI announcement, and remeasures Oct 26, so treat it as provisional.
Pro 100$100/mo→ $1k–1.4k/mo (~10–14×)low
Not measured directly. SemiAnalysis finds Pro 100/200/500 give the same value per dollar since the Sep 29 change, so this is half of the Pro 200 figures. Wokey is still collecting (1 account).
Pro 200$200/mo→ $2.1k–2.9k/mo (~10–14×)low
SemiAnalysis controlled tests on the new allowance: GPT-6.1 Sol ≈$2,084/mo, GPT-6 Astra only $2,897/mo (Sol figure via secondary quotes of the paywalled article). Grandfathered subscribers have ~2× until Oct 29. Wokey is still collecting (2 accounts).
Pro 500$500/mo→ $5.2k–7k/mo (~10–14×)low
SemiAnalysis Astra-only test $6,955/mo; Sol end scaled to 2.5× Pro 200.
Business (Standard seat)$25/mo→ $162–253/mo (~6.5–10×)low
OpenAI gives Business the same 5-hour estimates as Plus, so assumed equal to Plus value. Not measured.
Claude Code
Pro$20/mo→ $738–1,173/mo (~37–59×)medium
Low end: Wokey measured $170/week of real traffic on 474 Pro accounts (Oct 12–19) × 4.345 weeks. High end: SemiAnalysis controlled test, Max 20x on Opus 5.5 only ($11,726/mo) ÷ 10, using its finding that every Claude tier gives the same value per dollar.
Max 5x$100/mo→ $3.6k–5.9k/mo (~36–59×)low
No direct measurement yet (Wokey: 1 account, publishes at 5). Scaled from tiers that were measured: Pro and Max 20x both measure ~36–37× price on Wokey, and SemiAnalysis finds equal value per dollar across Claude tiers, so low = 36× $100; high = SemiAnalysis Max 20x Opus-only figure ÷ 2. Excludes the separate $100/mo of API credits Max includes.
Max 20x$200/mo→ $7.1k–11.7k/mo (~36–59×)medium
Low end: Wokey measured $1,643/week on 17 accounts (Oct 12–19; weekly cap ≈9.7× Pro, not 20×). High end: SemiAnalysis controlled Opus 5.5-only agentic test. Excludes the separate $200/mo of API credits Max includes.
Cursor + Grok
FreeFree→ not published
The weekly pool is published only relative to Plus (4×/15×/50×), never in dollars or tokens. SemiAnalysis tracks Cursor but its numbers are paywalled. Third-party models are billed at API list price, so they add no subsidy.
Plus$8/mo→ not published
The weekly pool is published only relative to Plus (4×/15×/50×), never in dollars or tokens. SemiAnalysis tracks Cursor but its numbers are paywalled. Third-party models are billed at API list price, so they add no subsidy.
Super$100/mo→ not published
The weekly pool is published only relative to Plus (4×/15×/50×), never in dollars or tokens. SemiAnalysis tracks Cursor but its numbers are paywalled. Third-party models are billed at API list price, so they add no subsidy.
Ultra$200/mo→ not published
The weekly pool is published only relative to Plus (4×/15×/50×), never in dollars or tokens. SemiAnalysis tracks Cursor but its numbers are paywalled. Third-party models are billed at API list price, so they add no subsidy.
Pro (legacy $20)$20/mo→ not published
The Other Models pool is drawn at API price, but pool sizes are not published.
Pro+ (legacy)$60/mo→ not published
The Other Models pool is drawn at API price, but pool sizes are not published.
GitHub Copilot
FreeFree→ not published
Free credit allowance is not stated in dollars or credits.
Pro$10/mo→ $15/mo (~1.5×)high
1,500 AI credits × $0.01. GitHub charges credits at provider API list rates (e.g. Opus 5.5 $4 in / $20 out per MTok), so the allowance is worth exactly its credits. Includes a 500-credit flex portion; code completions are unlimited and not counted.
Pro+$39/mo→ $70/mo (~1.8×)high
7,000 AI credits × $0.01 (3,100 flex).
Max$100/mo→ $200/mo (~2×)high
20,000 AI credits × $0.01 (10,000 flex).
Business$19/mo→ $19/mo (~1×)high
1,900 AI credits per user × $0.01, pooled across the org.
Gemini Code Assist / CLI
Standard$22.80/mo→ not published
Quotas are model requests per day; Google does not publish tokens per request, and no credible measurement exists. Closed to new subscriptions.
Enterprise$54/mo→ not published
Quotas are model requests per day; Google does not publish tokens per request, and no credible measurement exists. Closed to new subscriptions.
Free / individual (Google login)Free→ not published
Retired.
GLM Coding Plan (Z.ai)
Lite$18/mo→ $71–151/mo (~3.9–8.4×)medium
10,000 credits/week × API dollars per credit × 4.345 weeks. Z.ai publishes both the credit multipliers (GLM-5.3: 6.9 input / 1.7 cached / 24 output credits per 10k tokens) and GLM-5.3 API prices ($1.40 / $0.26 / $4.40 per MTok); at an agentic mix of 85–95% cache hits a credit is worth $0.00163–0.00174 of API usage at peak. Low end = all peak hours; high end = all off-peak (half the credits per token). Peak is 23:00–03:00 PT on weekdays, so US daytime use sits near the high end.
Pro$80/mo→ $425–907/mo (~5.3–11×)medium
60,000 credits/week × API dollars per credit × 4.345 weeks. Z.ai publishes both the credit multipliers (GLM-5.3: 6.9 input / 1.7 cached / 24 output credits per 10k tokens) and GLM-5.3 API prices ($1.40 / $0.26 / $4.40 per MTok); at an agentic mix of 85–95% cache hits a credit is worth $0.00163–0.00174 of API usage at peak. Low end = all peak hours; high end = all off-peak (half the credits per token). Peak is 23:00–03:00 PT on weekdays, so US daytime use sits near the high end.
Max$168/mo→ $992–2,117/mo (~5.9–13×)medium
140,000 credits/week × API dollars per credit × 4.345 weeks. Z.ai publishes both the credit multipliers (GLM-5.3: 6.9 input / 1.7 cached / 24 output credits per 10k tokens) and GLM-5.3 API prices ($1.40 / $0.26 / $4.40 per MTok); at an agentic mix of 85–95% cache hits a credit is worth $0.00163–0.00174 of API usage at peak. Low end = all peak hours; high end = all off-peak (half the credits per token). Peak is 23:00–03:00 PT on weekdays, so US daytime use sits near the high end.
Kimi Code
Plus$19/mo→ not published
Kimi does not publish the monthly credit pool or 5-hour cap in tokens or dollars. The only public measurement is one subscriber's instrumented data on a legacy plan (Aug 2026: ~19–23M billable tokens/week, down from ~55–90M), which doesn't map to the current tiers. SemiAnalysis tracks Moonshot behind a paywall.
Pro$39/mo→ not published
Kimi does not publish the monthly credit pool or 5-hour cap in tokens or dollars. The only public measurement is one subscriber's instrumented data on a legacy plan (Aug 2026: ~19–23M billable tokens/week, down from ~55–90M), which doesn't map to the current tiers. SemiAnalysis tracks Moonshot behind a paywall.
Max$99/mo→ not published
Kimi does not publish the monthly credit pool or 5-hour cap in tokens or dollars. The only public measurement is one subscriber's instrumented data on a legacy plan (Aug 2026: ~19–23M billable tokens/week, down from ~55–90M), which doesn't map to the current tiers. SemiAnalysis tracks Moonshot behind a paywall.
Ultra$199/mo→ not published
Kimi does not publish the monthly credit pool or 5-hour cap in tokens or dollars. The only public measurement is one subscriber's instrumented data on a legacy plan (Aug 2026: ~19–23M billable tokens/week, down from ~55–90M), which doesn't map to the current tiers. SemiAnalysis tracks Moonshot behind a paywall.
MiniMax M Plan
Go$22/mo→ $131–178/mo (~6–8.1×)low
MiniMax's own estimate of ~1.7B tokens/month for this tier (from the Token Plan page; MiniMax says M Plan keeps Token Plan text limits) priced at MiniMax-M3 list prices ($0.30 in / $0.06 cache read / $1.20 out per MTok) under agentic mixes of 95% cache reads/0.6% output (low) to 84% cache reads/0.7% output (high). It is a vendor estimate, not a measurement, and the weekly window may bind first. If MiniMax counted no cache reads in its estimate, the figure would be several times higher.
Explore$55/mo→ $393–534/mo (~7.1–9.7×)low
MiniMax's own estimate of ~5.1B tokens/month for this tier (from the Token Plan page; MiniMax says M Plan keeps Token Plan text limits) priced at MiniMax-M3 list prices ($0.30 in / $0.06 cache read / $1.20 out per MTok) under agentic mixes of 95% cache reads/0.6% output (low) to 84% cache reads/0.7% output (high). It is a vendor estimate, not a measurement, and the weekly window may bind first. If MiniMax counted no cache reads in its estimate, the figure would be several times higher.
Build$132/mo→ $963–1,309/mo (~7.3–9.9×)low
MiniMax's own estimate of ~12.5B tokens/month for this tier (from the Token Plan page; MiniMax says M Plan keeps Token Plan text limits) priced at MiniMax-M3 list prices ($0.30 in / $0.06 cache read / $1.20 out per MTok) under agentic mixes of 95% cache reads/0.6% output (low) to 84% cache reads/0.7% output (high). It is a vendor estimate, not a measurement, and the weekly window may bind first. If MiniMax counted no cache reads in its estimate, the figure would be several times higher.
Qwen (Alibaba Model Studio)
Pro$50/mo→ not published
The cap is 90,000 requests/month, but Alibaba does not publish tokens per request. Closed to new buyers.
Lite$8/mo→ not published
Alibaba does not publish how many credits a token costs, so credits can't be converted to API value. (Extra bundles sell credits at $0.00075 each; that is a price, not API value.)
Essential$16/mo→ not published
Alibaba does not publish how many credits a token costs, so credits can't be converted to API value. (Extra bundles sell credits at $0.00075 each; that is a price, not API value.)
Standard$25/mo→ not published
Alibaba does not publish how many credits a token costs, so credits can't be converted to API value. (Extra bundles sell credits at $0.00075 each; that is a price, not API value.)
Pro$80/mo→ not published
Alibaba does not publish how many credits a token costs, so credits can't be converted to API value. (Extra bundles sell credits at $0.00075 each; that is a price, not API value.)
API list prices used
- Anthropic Opus 5.5 $4 in / $0.20 cache read / $20 out; Sonnet 5.5 $2 / $0.10 / $10; Fable 5.1 $10 / $0.25 / $50 per 1M tokens. source ↗
- GitHub Copilot AI credits at $0.01, drawn at provider list rates (e.g. GPT-6.1 Sol $2 in / $0.10 cached / $10 out) per 1M tokens. source ↗
- Z.ai GLM-5.3 $1.40 in / $0.26 cached / $4.40 out; GLM-5.3-Flash $0.15 / $0.03 / $0.50 per 1M tokens. source ↗
- MiniMax M3 (≤512k context) $0.30 in / $0.06 cache read / $1.20 out; M3.1 Flash $0.15 / $0.015 / $0.60 per 1M tokens. source ↗
- Moonshot kimi-k3 $3.00 in / $0.30 cached / $15 out; kimi-k2.7-code $0.95 / $0.19 / $4.00 (reference only, no plan figure) per 1M tokens. source ↗
- Alibaba qwen3.7-plus (≤256K) $0.40 in / $1.60 out (reference only, no plan figure) per 1M tokens. source ↗
Workload mixes
Where we compute value from token counts or credits, we use agentic coding mixes that are mostly cache reads:
- 95% cache reads, ~4.4% fresh input, ~0.6% output, which reproduces Z.ai's own table (Lite ≈ 48M tokens/week at a 95% cache-hit rate, peak hours).
- 84–85% cache reads, ~0.7% output, from Wokey's measured Claude Pro traffic.
Third-party measurements come from Wokey (real accounts behind its gateway, remeasured every Monday, published at 5+ accounts) and SemiAnalysis (controlled single-model tests; paywalled, so we use the free excerpt and public quotes).
No subscription: API only
DeepSeek API (no subscription)
DeepSeek sells no coding plan, only pay-as-you-go. It works in Claude Code through its Anthropic-compatible endpoint. Per 1M tokens, peak/off-peak: deepseek-flash $0.30/$0.15 in, $1.20/$0.60 out; deepseek-v4-pro $1.32/$0.66 in, $3.96/$1.98 out. Off-peak is outside 01:00–04:00 and 06:00–10:00 UTC on weekdays.
DeepSeek pricing ↗Get pinged when the limits move
One short email when a plan changes. No spam, we're rate-limited too.