How the Price Index works
In plain English, then in detail.
In plain English
1. We pick 20 popular AI models — the ones most developers actually use (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, DeepSeek, etc.).
2. Every day we check what each one costs on Qubax and what it costs on OpenRouter (the standard retail price).
3. We combine all 20 prices into one number, like a fuel-price index. We started it at 100 on June 24, 2026.
4. If the number goes down, AI got cheaper. If it goes up, AI got more expensive.
5. The gap between our line and the OpenRouter line shows how much you save by using Qubax.
What is the QPI?
The Qubax Price Index (QPI) is a daily index that tracks the cost of AI inference across a fixed basket of 20 flagship AI models. It works like the Consumer Price Index (CPI) — but instead of groceries, it measures whether AI is getting cheaper or more expensive over time.
The index is normalized to 100 at launch (June 24, 2026). A value below 100 means AI inference has gotten cheaper; above 100 means it has gotten more expensive.
The Basket
The QPI basket contains 20 flagship models selected for:
- Brand recognition and developer search volume
- Coverage across major AI labs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, DeepSeek, Meta, Alibaba, Moonshot, Zhipu)
- At least 25 days of continuous price history
- Diversity across model tiers (flagship, fast, small, coding)
The basket is fixed — the same models are tracked every day. This ensures the index measures genuine price movement, not changes in what models are available.
Price Formula
Blended Price
blended_price = (input_price × 3 + output_price × 1) / 4Uses a 3:1 input:output ratio, reflecting typical chat and coding workloads where input tokens dominate. Prices are per 1 million tokens, in USD.
Index Value
QPI = median(basket_model_blended_price / baseline_blended_price) × 100The median (not mean) is used to prevent a single model's price spike from dominating the index. The baseline is the basket's blended prices on June 24, 2026.
OpenRouter Benchmark Index
A companion index tracks the same basket using OpenRouter retail list prices as the benchmark. The gap between the QPI and the Benchmark Index shows how Qubax's discount has evolved over time — the wider the gap, the deeper the discount.
Data Provenance
- Qubax prices: live sell prices from the Qubax platform, updated daily at 08:00 UTC
- Benchmark prices: OpenRouter public models API (
openrouter.ai/api/v1/models) - Historical data: 75,000+ price snapshots dating to June 24, 2026
- Computation: server-side, stored in
price_index_snapshotstable
Limitations
- The basket covers text models only; image, video, and audio models are excluded
- Models that are delisted or unavailable for >7 consecutive days are temporarily excluded
- The 3:1 blend ratio is a simplification; actual usage patterns vary by application
- The index measures list prices, not negotiated or volume-discounted rates