At 10 requests/user/day (totaling 750,000 queries/mo), running RAG / search-augmented answers on o3-pro (Frontier Reasoning) costs $96,000.00 / month ($38.40 / user / mo).
Total expected API invoice for 2,500 Active Users generating 750,000 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 (2,500 Active Users) | Cost / User / Mo | Annual Spend | Context Limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| o3-pro (Frontier Reasoning) (Current) | openai | $96,000.00 | $38.40 | $1,152,000.00 | 1,000,000 |
| GPT-5.6 Sol | openai | $27,750.00 | $11.10 | $333,000.00 | 1,050,000 |
| GPT-5.6 Cyber | openai | $69,375.00 | $27.75 | $832,500.00 | 1,050,000 |
| GPT-5.5 Standard | openai | $27,750.00 | $11.10 | $333,000.00 | 512,000 |
| GPT-5.5 Pro | openai | $166,500.00 | $66.60 | $1,998,000.00 | 512,000 |
| o3 (Reasoning Frontier) | openai | $48,000.00 | $19.20 | $576,000.00 | 1,050,000 |
At 10 queries per user/day with o3-pro (Frontier Reasoning), the estimated cost is $38.40 per monthly active user (MAU). Total monthly bill for 2,500 Active Users is $96,000.00.
Assuming a 50% cache hit rate on repeated system and context tokens, prompt caching saves $54,000.00 per month ($648,000.00/year) on o3-pro (Frontier Reasoning).
With a direct COGS of $38.40 per user/month on o3-pro (Frontier Reasoning), charging at least $192.00 per user/month ensures an 80%+ software gross margin.