There are two costs associated with using OpenAI and building tools designed for your business:
- The time it takes to understand your requirements, designing and coding the user interface (whether it's a chat bot, a form to upload files, embedding data from files or a voice to text translator, etc), then linking to OpenAI and showing the responses. This is the work that AI BUSINESS SOLUTIONS does.
- Other the initial discovery and proof of concept, all AI tools supplied by AI BUSINESS SOLUTIONS can be supplied on a subscription basis.
- The cost of using OpenAI - see below.
OpenAI uses different "models" depending on what you need. Some models are 1,200 times more expensive than others! (Prices are below.)
Current OpenAI API Models (2025)
- GPT-4o (Omni) - OpenAI's flagship multimodal model that can process text, images, and audio simultaneously. It's faster and more cost-effective than GPT-4 Turbo while maintaining high quality. Perfect for complex business applications requiring multiple input types.
- GPT-4o mini - A smaller, faster, and more affordable version of GPT-4o. Ideal for simple tasks like content generation, customer service chatbots, and basic analysis while still maintaining good quality output.
- GPT-4 Turbo - The previous flagship model, still excellent for complex reasoning tasks. Has a large context window (128K tokens) making it perfect for processing long documents or maintaining extended conversations.
- GPT-3.5 Turbo - The most cost-effective text model for simple tasks. While less sophisticated than GPT-4 models, it's perfect for basic content generation, translations, and straightforward business applications.
- Text Embedding 3 (Large & Small) - Modern embedding models for converting text into numerical vectors. Essential for building AI systems that can search through your business documents, create recommendation systems, or enable semantic search capabilities.
- Whisper - Audio transcription model that converts speech to text in multiple languages. Now supports longer audio files and better handles multiple speakers, making it perfect for meeting transcriptions and customer call analysis.
- DALL-E 3 - Advanced image generation model that creates high-quality images from text descriptions. Much improved from earlier versions with better prompt following and higher resolution output (1024×1024px standard).
- TTS (Text-to-Speech) - Converts text into natural-sounding speech with multiple voice options. Useful for creating voice assistants, audio content, or accessibility features for your business applications.
💡 Business Tip: For most small business applications, GPT-4o mini provides the best balance of cost and performance. GPT-4o is recommended when you need to process images, audio, or require the highest quality responses.
Getting your API Key
To get started you just need to register an account with OpenAI. You don't even need to set up a payment method as you get £5 worth of tokens for free (this can be used in your Proof of Concept). After you've logged on, click on API then on your avatar top-right and select API Keys. You just need to create a single API key - call it anything, then copy it (as you won't see it again), and send it to us. It's a simple process.
Tokens are not entirely easy to understand but here is what OpenAI says about models and tokens:
"You can think of tokens as pieces of words, where 1,000 tokens is about 750 words. These two sentences are 27 tokens."
As of August 2025, the current token prices are as follows (per 1,000 tokens):
GPT-4o (Recommended)
| Model | Input | Output | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o | $0.0025 / 1K tokens | $0.01 / 1K tokens | Multimodal tasks, complex reasoning |
| GPT-4o mini ⭐ | $0.00015 / 1K tokens | $0.0006 / 1K tokens | Most business applications |
GPT-4 Models
| Model | Input | Output | Context Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4 Turbo | $0.01 / 1K tokens | $0.03 / 1K tokens | 128K tokens |
| GPT-4 | $0.03 / 1K tokens | $0.06 / 1K tokens | 8K tokens |
GPT-3.5 Turbo
| Model | Input | Output | Context Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-3.5 Turbo | $0.0005 / 1K tokens | $0.0015 / 1K tokens | 16K tokens |
Embeddings Models
| Model | Usage | Dimensions |
|---|---|---|
| text-embedding-3-large | $0.00013 / 1K tokens | 3,072 dimensions |
| text-embedding-3-small ⭐ | $0.00002 / 1K tokens | 1,536 dimensions |
DALL-E 3 Images
| Resolution | Quality | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 1024×1024px | Standard | $0.040 / image |
| 1024×1024px | HD Quality | $0.080 / image |
Audio Models
| Model | Usage | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Whisper | $0.006 / minute | Speech-to-text transcription |
| TTS (Text-to-Speech) | $0.015 / 1K characters | Generate speech from text |
💰 Real-World Cost Examples (2025)
- Audio transcription: One hour costs 36 cents with Whisper
- Image generation: High-quality DALL-E 3 image costs 4-8 cents
- Document processing: A 700-page document (1M tokens) costs just 2 cents to embed with text-embedding-3-small
- Business chatbot: 1,000 customer interactions with GPT-4o mini costs approximately $3-5
- Content generation: 100 blog articles (500 words each) with GPT-4o mini costs around $2-4
Lower Cost Solutions
GPT-4o mini Customer Support Bot- Description: A smart chatbot using GPT-4o mini for handling customer inquiries, FAQs, and basic support tasks.
- Development Costs: Low – simple API integration with a chat interface.
- Running Costs: Very low – approximately £2-4 per 1,000 customer interactions.
- Useful for: Customer service automation, FAQ responses, basic product information.
Medium Cost Solutions
Multimodal Business Assistant with GPT-4o- Description: Advanced assistant handling text, images, and voice inputs for comprehensive business support.
- Development Costs: Medium – requires integration of multiple input types and processing workflows.
- Running Costs: Moderate – varies by usage but typically £10-30 per month for small businesses.
- Useful for: Document analysis with images, voice-to-text meeting notes, visual content creation.
- Description: AI system trained on your company documents, policies, and procedures using modern embedding models.
- Development Costs: Medium – involves document processing, embedding creation, and search integration.
- Running Costs: Low ongoing costs – document embedding is very affordable with text-embedding-3-small.
- Useful for: Employee onboarding, policy queries, technical documentation search.
Higher Investment Solutions
Enterprise AI Platform with Full Integration- Description: Comprehensive AI solution integrating multiple models (GPT-4o, Whisper, DALL-E 3, TTS) with your business systems.
- Development Costs: Higher – requires extensive integration, custom workflows, and enterprise-grade security.
- Running Costs: Scales with usage – can range from £50-500+ monthly depending on volume.
- Useful for: Complete business automation, advanced analytics, multi-department AI workflows.
Actual costs will vary depending on factors like the specific requirements of the project, the region, the chosen cloud/database provider, and many other factors.