Tier is a rough guide, not a guarantee
"Flagship" usually means the strongest model in a provider's line; "mini" usually means the cheapest. The tier label is a navigation aid, not a quality rating — a cheap model can still beat a flagship on your specific task.
Output tokens cost more than input
Almost every provider charges 2–5× more for output tokens. If your workload is generation-heavy (long agent loops, code synthesis, reports), the output column matters more than the input column.
List price is not your price
Enterprise contracts, committed-use discounts, prompt caching and batch APIs can change the math 2–10×. This page is for planning; for actual billing, check your invoice or your provider's pricing dashboard.
Price alone is not the answer
A model that costs 1/10 the price but only succeeds on 60% of your tasks is more expensive per successful task. Cost per successful task models this, and ModelSwitch measures it on your real workload.