Breaking the Bank: GPT-4.5 Preview Costs $150 per Million Tokens!

By Ivana Tilca · April 11, 2025 · 5 min read

The introduction of GPT-4.5-preview has undoubtedly sparked considerable discussion regarding its capabilities and associated costs. Although the high pricing can be attributed to its limited availability and advanced features, the model stands out for its creativity and reduced hallucinations. These improvements demand significant computational resources, justifying the elevated costs. While developers may find the investment steep, the performance of GPT-4.5-preview sets a new benchmark in the AI landscape, making it a noteworthy consideration for those seeking cutting-edge technology.

The pricing and performance of GPT-4.5-preview have sparked quite a bit of buzz, not only for its capabilities but also its cost. Here’s a breakdown:

Why Does GPT-4.5 Cost So Much?

1️⃣ Limited Availability: Being labeled as a "research preview," GPT-4.5 isn't widely accessible yet. This exclusivity naturally impacts its pricing.

2️⃣ Advanced Features: The model showcases enhanced creativity, fewer hallucinations, and other significant improvements. These upgrades demand substantial computational resources, contributing to higher costs.

Pricing Overview

Developers face a steep cost:

$75 for 1 million input tokens

$150 for 1 million output tokens

This makes it a considerably high investment, especially when compared to previous models like GPT-4. Curious about the detailed pricing? Her is a simple table that can explain it.

OpenAI provides more information on their official pricing page.

Pricing | OpenAI

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Model Comparisons

To evaluate how GPT-4.5 performs compared to earlier iterations or competitors, Andrej Karpathy conducted an interactive comparison via X (formerly Twitter). Participants voted on different scenarios with surprising outcomes:

To see the questions click here. Link to X post: https://x.com/karpathy/status/1895213020982472863

✅ Question 1: GPT-4.5 is A; 56% of people prefer it.

❌ Question 2: GPT-4.5 is B; 43% of people prefer it.

❌ Question 3: GPT-4.5 is A; 35% of people prefer it.

❌ Question 4: GPT-4.5 is A; 35% of people prefer it.

❌ Question 5: GPT-4.5 is B; 36% of people prefer it.