One canonical catalog
Standard model rates, provider links, effective pricing periods, long-context conditions and verification dates come from SXF's shared pricing dataset. We never overwrite it with an aggregator price.
COST INTELLIGENCE · ENTERPRISE AGENTS · 2026
AI Agent Cost Index.
A decision-grade view of agent economics. Start with documented model API rates, model your real operating costs, and compare cost per successful outcome — not just the token bill.
Pricing is loaded from the existing SXF catalog, not hardcoded into this page. Scenario results depend on your inputs.
CATALOG MODELS—All tracked model types
ELIGIBLE TOKEN MODELS—Standard paid, input + output
TRACKED PROVIDERS—Catalog-wide
CATALOG REVIEW DATE—Not a real-time API price feed
Loading the SXF price catalog…
01 / THE RATE LAYER
Provider-published API rates.
Compare the direct Standard API rates recorded by SXF. These are model costs, not all-in agent prices. Only paid generative models with comparable token units appear here.
| Model & source | Input / 1M | Cached / 1M | Output / 1M | Verified | Estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waiting for source-linked pricing data… | |||||
Waiting for catalogUSD · Standard paid token rates · Short-context baseline; applicable long-context rules are calculated per request.
A “verified” date reflects the source record's last documented check, not continuous monitoring. Provider billing may vary with context length, caching, tool calls, service tier, location, and enterprise terms.
02 / OUTCOME ECONOMICS
AI agent total-cost calculator.
Change each assumption for your workflow. Default values are illustrative inputs, not measured industry averages.
Illustrative starting scenarios — review every value.
03 / METHODOLOGY
How the numbers are calculated.
Separating measured price inputs from business assumptions is essential to comparable total cost of ownership.
Per-call token arithmetic
Each model call charges uncached input tokens, cached input tokens when supported, and output tokens at their applicable USD-per-million rate. Retry overhead increases the modeled number of calls.
Not just API spend
Monthly total = model API + tool charges + human review + infrastructure + operations + allocated build cost. Success and ROI calculations use the full modeled total.
Unit economics
Cost per successful task = total monthly cost ÷ expected successful tasks. Modeled ROI = (incremental value − monthly cost) ÷ monthly cost. A zero-success scenario has no defined cost-per-success.
What this index does not claim
It does not measure real-world task success rates, represent negotiated enterprise pricing, include every billable third-party tool, or convert illustrative scenarios into industry benchmarks. Extra charges — batch/fast tiers, cache writes/storage, grounding, searches, regional uplifts and taxes — require separate modeling when applicable.
Dates labeled “catalog review” and “per-model verification” are record dates, not a claim of live polling of every provider.
04 / GO DEEPER
From rates to deployment decisions.
Compare APIs, understand risk, and bring a defensible business case to procurement.
BUYER'S GUIDEAI Agent Cost in 2026Cost layers, worked examples, build vs buy, and hidden expenses.↗
SPECIALIST TOOLAI Model Cost CalculatorDetailed API-only token economics for a selected model.↗
RESEARCHAI Agent ReliabilityWhy successful outcomes matter more than nominal task volume.↗
OPERATIONSAI Agent SecurityPlan risk controls, oversight and operational safeguards.↗
05 / TRANSPARENCY
Change control, not price theater.
The index is tied to SXF's provider-sourced price catalog. External monitoring detects potential differences, but never rewrites official records automatically. Confirmed changes enter the canonical database after source review and validation.
Index launched . Catalog review date above is populated from the actual dataset.
PARTNERSHIPS
Reach buyers, not just browsers.
Relevant businesses can inquire about clearly labeled sponsorship opportunities. Advertisers do not control the methodology, rankings, source choice or calculated outcomes. No sponsored listings are included in the pricing table.
SXF / AI provides informational estimates only. Validate provider-specific invoices, regional terms, caching, service tier, tokenization and all operational assumptions before procurement.