Cheapest AI to review 500 lines of code (Oct 2026)
The cheapest model overall is Summarize at 0.02¢ per task. If you want a top-quartile model, the cheapest is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at 0.26¢.
10 cheapest models
Any model with a price, including small and older ones.
| # | Model | Cost per task | WebDev score | Tokens in / out | Basis | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S SummarizeScaledown | ≥0.02¢$0.20 / 1,000 | - | 4,874 / 16,000 | estimated capped | |
| 2 | S ExtractScaledown | ≥0.02¢$0.20 / 1,000 | - | 4,874 / 16,000 | estimated capped | |
| 3 |  Mistral NemoMistral | 0.04¢$0.41 / 1,000 | - | 4,658 / 9,116 | estimated | |
| 4 |  gpt-oss-20bOpenAI | 0.04¢$0.44 / 1,000 | 1317 | 4,557 / 3,978 | estimated best value | |
| 5 |  Gemma 3 4BGoogle | 0.05¢$0.47 / 1,000 | 1303 | 5,207 / 2,074 | estimated | |
| 6 | Gemma 3 12BGoogle | 0.06¢$0.57 / 1,000 | 1342 | 5,207 / 2,074 | estimated best value | |
| 7 | Gemma 4 26B A4B Google | 0.08¢$0.82 / 1,000 | 1360 | 5,207 / 2,074 | estimated best value | |
| 8 | Mistral Small 3Mistral | 0.10¢$0.96 / 1,000 | 1274 | 4,658 / 9,116 | estimated | |
| 9 | S Llama 3 8B LunarisSao10K | ≥0.10¢$0.99 / 1,000 | - | 4,874 / 16,000 | estimated capped | |
| 10 | I Ling 3.0 FlashInclusionai | ≥0.11¢$1.11 / 1,000 | - | 4,869 / 16,000 | estimated capped |
Cheapest high-quality models
Only models in the top 25% of LMArena WebDev scores (≥ 1513).
| # | Model | Cost per task | WebDev score | Tokens in / out | Basis | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek | ≥0.26¢$2.65 / 1,000 | 1618 | 4,801 / 16,000 | measured best value capped | |
| 2 | GPT-6 LunaOpenAI | 0.31¢$3.08 / 1,000 | 1578 | 4,557 / 5,258 | measured | |
| 3 | DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423DeepSeek | ≥0.33¢$3.35 / 1,000 | 1581 | 4,801 / 16,000 | estimated capped | |
| 4 |  GLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai | ≥0.34¢$3.42 / 1,000 | 1606 | 4,532 / 16,000 | measured capped | |
| 5 |  MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi | 0.44¢$4.36 / 1,000 | 1625 | 4,805 / 2,611 | estimated best value | |
| 6 | MiMo-V2.6-FlashXiaomi | ≥0.52¢$5.16 / 1,000 | 1634 | 4,835 / 16,000 | estimated best value capped | |
| 7 |  Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic | 0.66¢$6.61 / 1,000 | 1585 | 7,117 / 11,790 | measured | |
| 8 | GPT-5.6 LunaOpenAI | 0.72¢$7.22 / 1,000 | 1519 | 4,557 / 5,258 | estimated | |
| 9 | DeepSeek V4 Pro 0423DeepSeek | ≥0.77¢$7.68 / 1,000 | 1582 | 4,801 / 16,000 | estimated capped | |
| 10 |  Step 5 PreviewStepFun | 1.1¢$10.99 / 1,000 | 1565 | 5,297 / 2,109 | estimated |
Cheapest model of each lab
| Model | Cost per task | Score |
|---|---|---|
Mistral NemoMistral | 0.04¢$0.41 / 1,000 | - |
gpt-oss-20bOpenAI | 0.04¢$0.44 / 1,000 | 1317 |
Gemma 3 4BGoogle | 0.05¢$0.47 / 1,000 | 1303 |
 Llama 3.1 8B InstructMeta | ≥0.15¢$1.52 / 1,000 | 1211 |
 Qwen3.7 FlashAlibaba Qwen | ≥0.22¢$2.23 / 1,000 | - |
DeepSeek V4.1 FlashDeepSeek | ≥0.26¢$2.65 / 1,000 | 1618 |
GLM 5.3 FlashZ.ai | ≥0.34¢$3.42 / 1,000 | 1606 |
 MiniMax M2.5MiniMax | 0.37¢$3.74 / 1,000 | 1386 |
MiMo-V2.6-ProXiaomi | 0.44¢$4.36 / 1,000 | 1625 |
Claude Haiku 5.5Anthropic | 0.66¢$6.61 / 1,000 | 1585 |
 Kimi K2 ThinkingMoonshot AI | 0.86¢$8.55 / 1,000 | - |
 Grok Build 0.1xAI | 7.6¢$75.72 / 1,000 | - |
FAQ
What is the cheapest AI to review 500 lines of code?
The cheapest model overall is Summarize at 0.02¢ per task. If you want a top-quartile model, the cheapest is DeepSeek V4.1 Flash at 0.26¢.
Is the cheapest model good enough?
Often not for hard tasks. That is why this page also lists the cheapest models in the top quarter of LMArena scores and the cheapest model of every major lab.