calcis

Estimate LLM API costs from the command line.

Live pricing for 25+ models, side-by-side comparisons, and a web estimator: https://calcis.dev

• Full price index: https://calcis.dev/models
• Compare models: https://calcis.dev/compare
• API reference: https://calcis.dev/api-docs

Install

npm install -g calcis

Setup

Get your API key at calcis.dev/dashboard, then:

# Quickest: one command writes it to ~/.calcisrc
calcis config set-key calc_your_key_here

# Or write the file yourself
echo '{"apiKey":"calc_your_key_here"}' > ~/.calcisrc

# Or use an environment variable
export CALCIS_API_KEY=calc_your_key_here

Usage

# Estimate cost of a prompt file
calcis estimate prompt.txt --model claude-sonnet-4-6

# Estimate inline text
calcis estimate "Explain how transformers work" --model gpt-5-4

# Pipe from stdin
cat system-prompt.md | calcis estimate --stdin --model gpt-4o

# Compare two models
calcis compare claude-sonnet-4-6 gpt-4o --tokens 1000

# List all models and pricing
calcis models

# JSON output
calcis estimate prompt.txt --model gpt-5-4 --json

Commands

calcis estimate

Estimate the cost of a prompt against a specific model. The positional argument can be a file path (read as UTF-8) or literal text. Use --stdin to pipe prompts from another command.

Requires an API key (Pro tier or above). Get one at calcis.dev/dashboard.

calcis estimate <file-or-text> --model <id> [--effort <level>] [--key <api-key>] [--json]
calcis estimate --stdin --model <id>

Output:

[calcis] estimate · claude-sonnet-4-6

Input tokens     243
Output tokens    ~650 (predicted)
Input cost       $0.000729
Output cost      $0.009750
Total cost       $0.010479
At 1k req/mo     $10.48
Confidence       high

calcis models

Print every supported model with current pricing. Data ships with the package: no network call, no API key required. Browse the same dataset on the web at calcis.dev/models.

calcis models

calcis compare

Side-by-side per-request and at-scale cost comparison between two models. Uses the bundled pricing dataset: no API key required. For an interactive, multi-model version see calcis.dev/compare.

calcis compare <model-a> <model-b> --tokens <input> [--output <output>]

--output defaults to 500 if omitted.

calcis config set-key

Persist an API key to ~/.calcisrc (mode 0600) so subsequent runs don't need --key or CALCIS_API_KEY.

calcis config set-key <your-api-key>

Running an auth-required command without a configured key prints a welcome message that links back to calcis.dev/dashboard rather than a terse error.

API key resolution

In order:

1. --key <value> CLI flag
2. CALCIS_API_KEY environment variable
3. ~/.calcisrc JSON file: { "apiKey": "calc_..." }

Links

• Web App
• API Docs
• Pricing dataset (@calcis/pricing)
• GitHub Action
• VS Code extension

License

MIT