OpenAI
Alternatives

Best cheaper alternatives to GPT 4.1 Nano

Looking for a cheaper or smarter replacement for GPT 4.1 Nano by OpenAI? We compared every LLM model with verifiable pricing on real input/output cost, context window, intelligence and modalities. 18 options are meaningfully cheaper.

Category: LLM Intelligence 41 1.0M context
Google
Gemini 1.5 Flash-8B79% CHEAPER
Google
Better valueMore modalitiesSame category
DeepSeek
DeepSeek-V3 (Chat)62% CHEAPER
DeepSeek
Better valueSmarter (63 vs 41)Same category
Meta
Llama 3.1 8B82% CHEAPER
Meta
Better valueSame category
Meta
Llama 3.2 11B Vision82% CHEAPER
Meta
Better valueSame category
Alibaba Cloud
Qwen Turbo72% CHEAPER
Alibaba Cloud
Better valueSmarter (45 vs 41)Same category
Google
Gemini 1.5 Flash58% CHEAPER
Google
Better valueSmarter (48 vs 41)More modalitiesSame category
Google
Gemini 2.0 Flash44% CHEAPER
Google
Better valueSmarter (56 vs 41)More modalitiesSame category
Alibaba Cloud
Qwen Image Plus90% CHEAPER
Alibaba Cloud
Same category
Writer
Palmyra Vision99% CHEAPER
Writer
Same category
Google
Imagen 487% CHEAPER
Google
Same category
Groq
Llama 3.1 8B Instant 128k82% CHEAPER
Groq
Same category
Mistral AI
Mistral Small52% CHEAPER
Mistral AI
Better valueSmarter (44 vs 41)Same category
DeepSeek
DeepSeek-R1 (Reasoner)23% CHEAPER
DeepSeek
Better valueSmarter (73 vs 41)Same category
Alibaba Cloud
Qwen2.5 3B Instruct79% CHEAPER
Alibaba Cloud
Same category
Mistral AI
Ministral 3 8B52% CHEAPER
Mistral AI
Better valueSame category
Alibaba Cloud
Qwen Image MAX76% CHEAPER
Alibaba Cloud
Same category
Together AI
GPT OSS 20B72% CHEAPER
Together AI
Same category
Alibaba Cloud
Qwen 7B71% CHEAPER
Alibaba Cloud
Same category

Costs are normalised to a blended 1M-token workload (or per-unit price for non-token models) using each model's latest verified pricing. Models with pricing under review are excluded from recommendations.