Low cost. Full quality. 30+ models.

What is a cheap LLM API?

A cheap LLM API is a hosted inference endpoint that delivers model quality without hyperscaler markups. Plugsky prices from $5.60/month with a free tier — and because we run 30+ open-weight models, you can always pick the cheapest model that meets your quality bar.

How to control LLM cost

• Pick the smallest model that passes your eval — plugsky-phi and plugsky-lite handle most high-volume tasks.
• Use streaming — pay for what you consume, not a full response.
• Cache and batch — similar prompts can be deduplicated client-side.
• Use the cost calculator — llm-cost-calculator models your spend before you commit.

Plans that fit

Plan	Price	Fit
Free	$0	Testing, small experiments
Hobby	$5.60/mo	Personal projects
Starter	$14/mo	Production apps at small scale
Builder	$42/mo	Growing teams

FAQ

Is cheap the same as bad?

No — open-weight models like Nemotron and Llama are production-grade. Cheap means you are not paying for a proprietary brand markup.

How does Plugsky compare to OpenAI pricing?

See the head-to-head comparison with real numbers.

What is the fastest model?

plugsky-phi and plugsky-lite respond in ~0.2s on the live API.