# AI Cost Per Task

> The real cost of AI: published list prices per ordinary task, for owner-operators of small Australian businesses (roughly A$10 million in revenue).

This is a static cost sheet. Every price row is a published list price times a stated scenario. It is not a quote, and it is not tax, legal, or financial advice.

Exchange rate: 0.6975 United States dollars per Australian dollar on 2026-10-19, read 2026-10-20. Source: https://www.rba.gov.au/statistics/frequency/exchange-rates.html
AUD = USD / 0.6975.

Token rule for text scenarios: OpenAI's token help article says that for English, 100 tokens are approximately 75 words. Source: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/4936856 (read 2026-10-20).

By-hand wage: Clerks—Private Sector Award 2020 [MA000002], Adult Level 2, Year 1, minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours (clause 16.1, Table 3), A$29.45 per hour, effective 2026-07-01. The award page incorporates amendments up to and including 1 July 2026 (PR799283, operative from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026). Table 3 lists Level 2, Year 1 at $29.45 an hour and $1,119.10 a week. This is the minimum hourly rate for ordinary hours. It is not the casual rate ($36.81), not overtime, and not a loaded cost with superannuation, leave, or payroll tax. Source: https://awards.fairwork.gov.au/MA000002.html (read 2026-10-20). Minutes per task are an assumption the reader can edit, not a measured time.

## Left out
- Monthly seat plans, including ChatGPT and Claude subscriptions, are not split into a per-task price. A per-task figure would require a task count the vendor does not publish.
- OpenAI image models are omitted. The image guide prices output in tokens and says the token count depends on quality and size. The pricing page does not fix a token count for GPT Image 2.5, so this sheet does not invent one.
- Transcription rows whose per-minute figure is in a column the OpenAI pricing page heads “Estimated cost” are omitted. GPT-Transcribe is included because its model page states a price per minute.
- Free tiers are not turned into a per-task price. The pages read here do not say how many of these scenarios a free allowance covers.

## Tasks
### Office

A customer email, a meeting transcript, an hour of audio, and pasted spreadsheet rows.

- [Draft a customer email](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/draft-email): Scenario: 75 words of instruction and facts in, 150 words of email out.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.00011 / A$0.000158. (100 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.00011 / A$0.000158. (100 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0022 / A$0.003154. (100 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.0022 / A$0.003154. (100 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
- [Summarise a meeting transcript](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/summarise-meeting): Scenario, not a recording: 9,000 words of transcript in, 450 words of summary out.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.0015 / A$0.002151. (12000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (600 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0015 / A$0.002151. (12000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (600 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.03 / A$0.043011. (12000 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (600 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.03 / A$0.043011. (12000 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (600 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
- [Transcribe one hour of audio](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/transcribe-hour): Sixty minutes of recorded audio, priced at the published per-minute rate.
  - GPT-Transcribe (OpenAI): US$0.27 / A$0.387097. 60 × US$0.0045. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/models/gpt-transcribe (read 2026-10-20).
- [Clean up spreadsheet data](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/spreadsheet-cleanup): Scenario: 1,500 words of pasted rows in, 1,500 words of cleaned rows out. Not a spreadsheet product's monthly plan.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.0012 / A$0.00172. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0012 / A$0.00172. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.024 / A$0.034409. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.024 / A$0.034409. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).

### Customers

A written reply to one support ticket.

- [Answer a support ticket](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/support-ticket): Scenario: 225 words of ticket in, 150 words of reply out.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.00013 / A$0.000186. (300 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.00013 / A$0.000186. (300 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0026 / A$0.003728. (300 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.0026 / A$0.003728. (300 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (200 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).

### Publishing

A blog post, one product image, and an 8-second video clip.

- [Write a blog post](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/blog-post): Scenario: 150 words of brief in, 750 words of post out.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.00052 / A$0.000746. (200 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.00052 / A$0.000746. (200 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0104 / A$0.01491. (200 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.0104 / A$0.01491. (200 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
- [Generate a product image](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/product-image): One 1024×1024 output image, using the token count printed on the pricing page. The text prompt is not included.
  - Gemini Nano Banana 2.1 (Google): US$0.0336 / A$0.048172. 1120 × US$30 / 1,000,000. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 3.1 Flash Image (Google): US$0.0672 / A$0.096344. 1120 × US$60 / 1,000,000. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
- [Generate a short video clip](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/short-video): An 8-second clip. For Veo 3.1 that length is the length in Google's Veo guide. For Gemini Omni Flash it is this site's comparison length.
  - Veo 3.1 Lite (Google): US$0.40 / A$0.573477. 8 × US$0.05. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini Omni Flash (Google): US$0.81088 / A$1.162552. 5,792 × 8 × US$17.50 / 1,000,000. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).

### Documents

Notes on a contract-length document. The row prices a model call, not a legal review.

- [Review a contract-length document](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/review-contract): Scenario: 3,750 words of document in, 600 words of notes out. This prices a model call. It is not a legal review.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.0009 / A$0.00129. (5000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (800 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0009 / A$0.00129. (5000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (800 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.018 / A$0.025806. (5000 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (800 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.018 / A$0.025806. (5000 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (800 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).

### Product

One request to code a small feature, with no agent loop.

- [Code a small feature](https://aicostpertask.com/tasks/code-feature): Scenario: one request, 1,500 words of instruction and existing code in, 750 words of code and notes out. No agent loop.
  - GPT-6 Luna (OpenAI): US$0.0007 / A$0.001004. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.0007 / A$0.001004. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.10 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$0.50. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Claude Sonnet 5.5 (Anthropic): US$0.014 / A$0.020072. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$2 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$10. Source: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/about-claude/pricing (read 2026-10-20).
  - Gemini 4 Argon (Google): US$0.014 / A$0.020072. (2000 / 1,000,000) × US$2.00 + (1000 / 1,000,000) × US$10.00. Source: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing (read 2026-10-20).

## Price changes

Later price changes are logged automatically each time prices are re-read. An entry is added only when a stored price differs. This log does not invent changes from before 20 Oct 2026.
- 2026-10-20: First read of all prices. All tasks / All listed models. Old: none. New: none. Source: https://aicostpertask.com/data.json (read 2026-10-20).
- [Price changes](https://aicostpertask.com/changes)
- [RSS](https://aicostpertask.com/changes.xml)

## Newsletter archive

Issue one goes out this week. No earlier issues are invented.
- [Archive](https://aicostpertask.com/archive)

## Machine-readable copies
- [JSON](https://aicostpertask.com/data.json)
- [CSV](https://aicostpertask.com/data.csv)

Sponsored placements, if any are sold later, are labelled and do not change a figure or the sort order. None are live. Payment is not wired up.