Every few hours we collect the list of AI models that can be used through an API, with their prices and abilities. Put together, that list is a snapshot of the whole market. Here is what it shows today, from 341 models made by 45 companies. The figures update with our data, so this page stays current.
How fast new models arrive
220 of the models we list appeared in the last 12 months: about 4 a week. The busiest month was September 2026, with 41 new models. The pace is picking up: 135 new models in the last six months, against 85 in the six months before.
| Month | New models |
|---|---|
| October 2025 | 16 |
| November 2025 | 6 |
| December 2025 | 19 |
| January 2026 | 9 |
| February 2026 | 18 |
| March 2026 | 17 |
| April 2026 | 24 |
| May 2026 | 9 |
| June 2026 | 12 |
| July 2026 | 24 |
| August 2026 | 25 |
| September 2026 | 41 |
No one can test that many models by hand, which is why we lean on independent benchmarks and our own rankings to sort them.
What today’s models can do
- 84% can use tools: search the web, call a calculator or your own software, when the app allows it.
- 70% are reasoning models, which work through a problem before answering.
- 59% can read images as well as text.
- 44% have open weights: anyone can download them and run them on their own hardware.
- 5% can be used for free, with limits.
A few years ago, each of these was a special feature. Today, a model that cannot use tools or read an image is the exception.
What a typical model costs
For text models with a price, the median is $0.75 per million tokens, counting three tokens read for each token written. The cheapest costs $0.022, and one model in ten costs $6 or more: a 276× range. That range is the main reason choosing the model matters more than any discount. How much intelligence a dollar buys shows where the value is.
Who makes the most models
| Company | Models listed |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | 65 |
| Alibaba Qwen | 53 |
| Google DeepMind | 28 |
| Mistral AI | 19 |
| Z.ai (Zhipu) | 16 |
| Anthropic | 15 |
The number of models is not market share: a company that publishes many sizes, dated versions and previews counts several times. But it shows who ships the most, and whose names you will keep seeing in the news.
How we count
The list comes from OpenRouter’s public catalogue, which gathers the models offered by dozens of providers. A model counts as new in the month it appeared there, usually its release month. Models only available inside an app, or only as downloads, are not included. Of the 341 models, 136 have both an independent score and a public price, and those are the ones our analyses compare.
The figures in this article are recalculated from our data at every update (last: Sep 30, 2026). How we work