THE TICKER · HEAD-TO-HEAD · CHECKED DAILY · LAST CHANGE 2026-07-11
GPT-5.5 VS GPT-5.4
OpenAI vs OpenAI, in USD per million tokens, verified daily against public list prices. Same jobs, both meters running.
THE VERDICT
2.0x
GPT-5.5 costs 2.0x more than GPT-5.4 for the same job — a 1,000-token prompt with a 3,000-token reply runs $0.10 vs $0.05. At 1,000 runs a day, that gap is $1,425.00 a month for identical traffic.
SIDE BY SIDE
SAME JOB, BOTH BILLS
| Scenario | GPT-5.5 | GPT-5.4 | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A typical prompt | $0.03 | $0.01 | 2.0x |
| A 20-turn conversation | $0.14 | $0.07 | 2.0x |
| Summarizing a 10-page document | $0.14 | $0.07 | 2.0x |
| One agent run | $0.37 | $0.19 | 2.0x |
| A code review request | $0.12 | $0.06 | 2.0x |
Output sizes use the same editorial ratios as the Burn Calculator. Estimates, not invoices — and price is not a benchmark: the cheaper model is only a bargain if it does the job.
SETTLE IT WITH YOUR OWN PROMPT
Paste a real prompt into the Burn Calculator and see what it costs on GPT-5.5, GPT-5.4 and the other 10 models on the board — plus how much of it is waste either way.