Best Affordable AI API for Indian Students (2026): ₹ Prices

For most student and side projects in India, the best value AI APIs right now are DeepSeek V4 Flash (₹2.90 per 1M input tokens) and GPT-4o mini (₹15.54). On Velona you can use both, plus 300+ other models, with one API key, pay with UPI from ₹10, and skip the international credit card most AI providers ask for.

The cheapest AI APIs in India (₹ per 1M tokens)

Prices as of 4 October 2026 on Velona. They follow the live exchange rate, so check the cheapest models page for today's figures.

Model	Input ₹ / 1M	Output ₹ / 1M	Good for
DeepSeek V4 Flash	₹2.90	₹5.80	Coding, chatbots, long documents (1M-token context)
GPT-OSS 120B	₹3.83	₹17.61	General text tasks on a tight budget
GPT-5 Nano	₹5.18	₹41.44	Simple, fast replies and classification
Gemini 2.5 Flash Lite	₹10.36	₹41.44	High-volume summarising and extraction
GPT-4o mini	₹15.54	₹62.17	Reliable all-rounder, reads images too
DeepSeek V4 Pro	₹21.63	₹43.27	Harder coding and reasoning
Llama 3.3 70B	₹22.79	₹51.80	Open-weights model for general use

What a student project actually costs

Here is what common college and hackathon projects cost per use:

Project	Tokens per use (in / out)	DeepSeek V4 Flash	GPT-4o mini
Resume reviewer	1,500 / 500	under ₹0.01	about ₹0.05
Study notes summariser (10 pages)	6,000 / 600	about ₹0.02	about ₹0.13
Chatbot reply	1,000 / 300	under ₹0.01	about ₹0.03

In plain terms, a ₹10 top-up covers about 180 resume reviews on GPT-4o mini, or well over 1,000 on DeepSeek V4 Flash. For a final-year project demo, ₹50 to ₹100 is usually more than enough.

Why most AI APIs are hard to pay for from India

Paying an AI provider directly usually means:

A card that works for international payments, which many students don't have
Billing in dollars, with your bank's forex markup on top
A prepaid minimum of a few dollars, more than a small project needs
A separate account and bill for each provider

Velona removes those steps: a rupee wallet you top up with UPI, RuPay, a domestic card or net banking, a ₹10 minimum, and one key for every model. The price includes a transparent 7% platform fee, explained on our pricing explainer.

A simple project in 10 lines of Python

Here is a resume reviewer using the standard OpenAI SDK. Only the base URL and model ID are Velona-specific.

pip install openai

import os
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    api_key=os.environ["VELONA_API_KEY"],
    base_url="https://velona.in/v1",
)

resume = open("resume.txt").read()

response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash",
    messages=[
        {"role": "system", "content": "You are a strict but kind resume reviewer for Indian campus placements."},
        {"role": "user", "content": f"Suggest 3 specific improvements:\n\n{resume}"},
    ],
    max_tokens=500,
)

print(response.choices[0].message.content)

To switch models, change only the model value, for example to openai/gpt-4o-mini.

5 tips to keep your project almost free

Prototype on DeepSeek V4 Flash. Move to a stronger model only for the parts that need it.
Set max_tokens. Output costs more than input, so cap the length of replies.
Don't resend the whole chat history every time. Keep only the last few messages.
Create one API key per project with a budget. A bug can't drain your wallet.
Check your usage page weekly. It shows the rupee cost of every request.

Frequently asked questions

What is the cheapest AI API in India?

On Velona, DeepSeek V4 Flash is the cheapest strong model at ₹2.90 per 1M input tokens and ₹5.80 per 1M output tokens.

Can students use AI APIs without a credit card?

Yes. Velona lets you top up with UPI, RuPay, a domestic debit card or net banking. No international credit card is needed.

How much money do I need to start?

₹10. There is no subscription, and you only pay for the tokens you use.

Can I try models before paying?

You can test prompts in the browser chat first, and use the free developer tools without an account.

Get started

Follow the 5-minute setup guide, add ₹10 with UPI, and build your first AI feature today.

Create your Velona account

Best Affordable AI API for Indian Students and Indie Developers in 2026