Particle-1 API pricing
particle-ai · Budget price tier · released 2026-10. Prices in USD per 1 million tokens. Data snapshot: 2026-11-01.
A support ticket workload of 100K requests a month costs $32.50 on Particle-1; the next cheaper model in the Budget price tier for this workload, DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, does it for $31.75. Particle-1 has held the same list price since 2026-11-01 and is the 71st cheapest of 158 models in the Budget price tier. Only one host, Particle AI, sells it, so there is no second price to shop. No Arena score is published for it, so it carries no Efficiency score and cannot hold the FinOps Friendly badge.
- Input: $0.05 per 1M tokens
- Output: $0.50 per 1M tokens
- Batch API (in/out): Not published
- Prompt-cache read: $0.003 per 1M tokens
- Context window: 1M tokens
- Arena ELO: Not published
Market position
On blended price ($0.365 per 1M tokens at 30% input, 70% output) it is cheaper than 55% of models in the Budget price tier: 71st cheapest of 158. Across every price tier it is cheaper than 77% of priced text models in the catalogue: 71st cheapest of 302. No Arena score has been published for Particle-1, so this page does not rank it on quality and OptimNow's quality bars do not apply to it. 70 of the 158 models we list in the Budget price tier carry one. An unranked model is unmeasured, not poor: the benchmark needs votes, and a recent release has not had time to collect them.
Licence, size and capabilities
No licence is recorded for Particle-1, so this page does not say whether it can be self-hosted. Its parameter count is not published. Listed capabilities: Text, Vision, Reasoning, Agents. Filling its 1M context window once costs $0.05 in input tokens at list price.
Pricing by host
A host is a company that runs the model and sells it by the token: the model maker, a cloud platform like Amazon Bedrock, Azure or Vertex, or an independent host. One model, several hosts, and often several prices. This model is sold by 1 host. The price we quote elsewhere on this page is marked. We quote one host's rate so that models stay comparable; it is not a recommendation to buy there.
Particle AI is the only host with a published rate, $0.05 input / $0.50 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote.
| Host | Input $/1M | Output $/1M |
|---|---|---|
| Particle AI (price we quote) | $0.05 | $0.50 |
List prices as published on 2026-11-01, via OpenRouter. Negotiated rates, committed-use discounts and provisioned capacity are not shown.
Monthly cost at 100K requests, by business use case
From the after-discounts figure (prompt caching on the cached input share, batch API for async workloads, only where particle-ai publishes those rates), which assumes you implement both, to the list price. One figure means no discount is published.
| Use case | Tokens (in/out) | Monthly (after discounts – list) |
|---|---|---|
| Support Ticket | 1,500 / 500 | $28 – $33 |
| Knowledge Q&A | 2,000 / 800 | $43 – $50 |
| Meeting Summary | 10,000 / 1,200 | $105 – $110 |
| Marketing Content | 2,500 / 1,800 | $100 – $102 |
| Coding Task | 3,000 / 2,000 | $108 – $115 |
| Invoice Processing | 1,500 / 600 | $35 – $38 |
| Call Summary | 2,000 / 700 | $44 – $45 |
| Agent Workflow | 6,000 / 3,000 | $160 – $180 |
Price history
Particle-1 entered our daily price archive on 2026-11-01; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $0.05 input / $0.50 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-11-01. Last checked against the 2026-11-01 snapshot.
Alternatives to Particle-1
Particle-1 carries no Arena score, so this page cannot place it against models of comparable quality. The alternatives below are its nearest neighbours on price in the Budget price tier.
- Next cheaper model in the Budget price tier: DeepSeek V4.1 Flash (DeepSeek) at $0.3635 blended, under 1% less.
- Next more expensive: DeepSeek V3.2 Exp (DeepSeek) at $0.368 blended, 1% more.
Common questions about Particle-1 pricing
- How much does Particle-1 cost?
- Particle-1 costs $0.05 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens at Particle AI, the host whose rate we quote. Prices as listed on 2026-11-01.
- Which host is cheapest for Particle-1?
- Particle AI is the only host with a published rate, $0.05 input / $0.50 output per 1M tokens, which is the price we quote. Host rates as listed on 2026-11-01.
- Does Particle-1 offer batch or cached pricing?
- Yes, for prompt caching only. Cache reads cost $0.003 per 1M tokens, as listed on 2026-11-01. No batch pricing is published.
- What would Particle-1 cost per month?
- With the Support Ticket profile (1,500 input and 500 output tokens per request), 100,000 requests a month cost about $33 on Particle-1 at the list price quoted on 2026-11-01.
- Can Particle-1 be self-hosted?
- No licence is recorded for Particle-1, so this page does not say whether it can be self-hosted.
- Has the price of Particle-1 changed?
- Particle-1 entered our daily price archive on 2026-11-01; tracking began on 2026-08-15. It listed at $0.05 input / $0.50 output per 1M tokens that day. No list price change since 2026-11-01. Last checked against the 2026-11-01 snapshot.
It publishes a prompt-cache rate, which is the discount most often left out of a budget: what prompt caching saves.
These are list prices. Your real cost also depends on caching and batching, negotiated discounts, marketplace agreements, and the contracts you already have. OptimNow audits exactly that.
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