Claude and ChatGPT too expensive, Chinese AI models surge in use due to low cost

Published 11 June 2026 · tech

In the world of tech, at least outside China, we do not hear that much about Kimi, MiniMax and Qwen. Instead, the buzz is mostly

In the world of tech, at least outside China, we do not hear that much about Kimi, MiniMax and Qwen. Instead, the buzz is mostly around ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude. As in Claude this and Claude that. Yet, in the first half of 2026, a surprising trend is underway. The popularity of Chinese AI models like Kimi, DeepSeek, Qwen and MiniMax seem to be surging across the world. And it is not because these are the best AI models. But it is because, as an Industry expert puts it, they are "good enough." Read Full Story With AI models like OpenAI Codex and Claude Code fast becoming prohibitively expensive even for tech giants like Uber and Microsoft, companies across the world are trying to get their AI fix through Chinese models that are significantly cheaper. The idea is that even though the Chinese models are not exactly in Claude-class, they are also not that far behind. At least for mundane tasks, such as customer service, they seem to be more than serviceable. This is leading organisations, according to AI company Sekond Brain founder Sachin Dev Duggal, to ask "why are we using a Ferrari to go to the supermarket?" At least data from the early months of 2026 is clear. As OpenAI, Google and Anthropic switch to token-based pricing, which is extremely expensive, usage of Kimi and DeepSeek has gone up significantly. According to the latest data from OpenRouter, a service that allows organisations to hook to APIs of popular AI models, Chinese AI providers have found favour among users this year. The data suggests that DeepSeek now has a share of around 17.6 per cent in AI use through OpenRouter. The data also reveals that in February this year, Chinese AI models reportedly delivered 4.12 trillion tokens against 2.94 trillion from American models. Overall, it seems that the Chinese models have gone from roughly 1 per cent of developer usage in 2024 to over 60 per cent by May 2026. In terms of output token, the leaderboard at OpenRouter is dominated by Chinese AI models. The reasons are easy to see even though the Chinese AI models lag behind the American AI models in capability and refinement in highly complex tasks.

Models like ChatGPT 5.5 and Claude Opus 4.8 are miles ahead of their Chinese counterparts in terms of the quality of their output. But this quality may not be needed in most instances and "good enough" models can do a lot of mundane work at a relatively low cost. A glance at the pricing of different AI models highlights the gap between the Chinese and American AI. Chinese models like MiniMax and Moonshot charge around $2–$3 per million output tokens. DeepSeek, with its latest Pro model, is even cheaper with a pricing of less than $1 for one million output tokens. On the other hand, Anthropic's Claude Sonnet runs at about $15, while the latest Opus 4.8 can cost as much as $25. The cost of the latest ChatGPT and Gemini is slightly lower compared to Claude, but compared to prices of Chinese models it is still significantly higher. On June 1, out of 10 top AI models, five were from Chinese companies. DeepSeek was No 1 in terms of usage. Source: OpenRouter Cost is one factor that has made SimplifyGenAI, a global firm that helps companies integrate custom AI and automation tools, adopt Chinese models. "We never used (OpenAI) Sora at all," Daksh Sharma, co-founder of SimplifyGenAI told India Today Tech. "We now rely on Chinese models like Seedance and Kling, which deliver outstanding output at a fraction of the cost." Sharma says he is seeing a similar pattern emerge in the LLM market as well. "For most commercial use cases, good enough at a fraction of the price simply wins," he says. Companies will explore hybrid AI mode Industry experts believe the surge in Chinese AI use is the beginning of a trend where companies will use AI while keeping an eye on their usage pattern, benefit and cost. It does not mean an outright win for Chinese models but instead will force everyone in the industry, from users to AI firms creating and selling models, to become more aware of the economics of AI. And this change, industry experts suggest, will lead to a hybrid mode of AI use.