AiGanakCheapest AI for translation, by model and language
Translate text: what a typical job costs on every current OpenAI, Anthropic and Google model, in English, Hindi, Tamil and German. Priced as English in, your language out. Natural wording in the target language needs at least a mid-class model.
Translate text: a typical job is 1,800 tokens per text. At list prices checked 9 November 2026, the lowest-cost mid-class model is Gemini 3.8 Flash in English ($3.97 per 1,000 texts) and Gemini 3.8 Flash in Hindi ($4.54 per 1,000 texts). Costs shown for English, Hindi, Tamil and German on every current OpenAI, Anthropic and Google model.
The pick, by language
Mid class is the smallest model class that normally handles this job. The pick is the lowest-cost current model of that class or above.
| Language | Lowest-cost model | Per 1,000 texts | Per month at 5,000 texts |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Gemini 3.8 Flash Google | $3.97 | $20 |
| Hindi | Gemini 3.8 Flash Google | $4.54 | $23 |
| Tamil | Gemini 3.8 Flash Google | $5.11 | $26 |
| German | Gemini 3.8 Flash Google | $4.88 | $24 |
Cost per 1,000 texts
Typical job: 200 tokens of instructions, 800 read and 800 written per text, counted in English tokens on the reference model family and converted for each model family and language with the measured token tax (4 November 2026). Standard list prices, no caching, no batch discount.
| Model | English | Hindi | Tamil | German |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Luna OpenAI · Small | $0.500 | $0.671 | $0.865 | $0.599 |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 Anthropic · Small | $0.734 | $1.49 | $2.03 | $1.32 |
| Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite Google · Small | $2.43 | $2.82 | $3.19 | $3.04 |
| Gemini 3.8 Flash Google · Mid | $3.97 | $4.54 | $5.11 | $4.88 |
| GPT-6.1 Terra OpenAI · Mid | $5.00 | $6.71 | $8.65 | $5.99 |
| GPT-6.1 Sol OpenAI · Mid | $10.00 | $13.42 | $17.30 | $11.97 |
| Gemini 4 Argon Google · Flagship | $10.58 | $12.93 | $16.09 | $12.87 |
| Gemini 3.1 Pro (preview) Google · Flagship · older or preview | $12.27 | $14.12 | $15.92 | $15.19 |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5 Anthropic · Mid | $14.67 | $29.72 | $40.67 | $26.33 |
| Claude Opus 5.5 Anthropic · Flagship | $29.35 | $59.43 | $81.35 | $52.65 |
| GPT-6 Astra OpenAI · Flagship | $50.00 | $67.10 | $86.52 | $59.86 |
| Claude Fable 5.1 Anthropic · Flagship | $73.37 | $148.59 | $203.37 | $131.63 |
Announced price changes are not included here: Gemini 4 Argon from 1 December 2026; Gemini 3.8 Flash from 1 January 2027. AiGanak Check applies them. The size of a job is an estimate; your own prompts and replies decide your bill. Quality on your task decides whether a cheaper model is usable.
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Which AI model is cheapest for translation?
For a typical job of 200 instruction tokens, 800 tokens read and 800 tokens written per text, the lowest-cost mid-class model at list prices checked 9 November 2026 is Gemini 3.8 Flash in English at $3.97 per 1,000 texts. Smaller models cost less but may not reach the quality this job needs.
Does translation cost more in Hindi or Tamil?
Usually yes, because the same text takes more tokens. The lowest-cost mid-class model is Gemini 3.8 Flash in Hindi at $4.54 per 1,000 texts and Gemini 3.8 Flash in Tamil at $5.11 per 1,000 texts, against $3.97 in English. Instructions stay in English in these figures.
How is the cost per text worked out?
Tokens read and written per text are multiplied by each model's list price per million tokens, using the measured token counts of that model family for each language (AiGanak token tax index, 4 November 2026). Caching, batch discounts and retries are not included; AiGanak Check lets you turn them on.
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Your real texts, priced on every model
The tables use a typical job. Your bill depends on your prompts, reply lengths and mix of languages. Send one month of usage and a sample of requests, and we price your actual traffic on every model and show the changes that are safe to make.
Delivered in two working days. If the savings identified come to less than USD 149 over three months, we refund what you paid.
Get an email when a price change affects these costs
We check OpenAI, Anthropic and Google pricing every week and email you the old price, the new price and the date.