At 10 requests/user/day (totaling 300,000 queries/mo), running RAG / search-augmented answers on GPT-5.6 Terra costs $4,440.00 / month ($4.44 / user / mo).
Total expected API invoice for 1,000 Active Users generating 300,000 queries.
Direct inference cost per MAU to model your SaaS pricing tiers and gross margins.
Savings generated by exploiting 50% cache hits on prompt context.
| Model | Provider | Monthly Spend (1,000 Active Users) | Cost / User / Mo | Annual Spend | Context Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.6 Terra (Current) | openai | $4,440.00 | $4.44 | $53,280.00 | 1,050,000 |
| GPT-5.4 Workhorse | openai | $5,550.00 | $5.55 | $66,600.00 | 256,000 |
| o3-mini | openai | $2,640.00 | $2.64 | $31,680.00 | 200,000 |
| o4-mini | openai | $2,310.00 | $2.31 | $27,720.00 | 256,000 |
| o1-mini | openai | $2,640.00 | $2.64 | $31,680.00 | 128,000 |
| Claude Sonnet 5 | anthropic | $4,140.00 | $4.14 | $49,680.00 | 1,000,000 |
At 10 queries per user/day with GPT-5.6 Terra, the estimated cost is $4.44 per monthly active user (MAU). Total monthly bill for 1,000 Active Users is $4,440.00.
Assuming a 50% cache hit rate on repeated system and context tokens, prompt caching saves $2,160.00 per month ($25,920.00/year) on GPT-5.6 Terra.
With a direct COGS of $4.44 per user/month on GPT-5.6 Terra, charging at least $22.20 per user/month ensures an 80%+ software gross margin.