Bridge by Wekoya / Guides / The cheapest way to use AI APIs in Nigeria
The cheapest way to use AI APIs in Nigeria
In short: The cheapest way is to pay in naira with no card fees, use the smallest model that does the job, and let caching and batches cut the rest. On Bridge by Wekoya you top up by bank transfer, prompt caching is automatic on Claude, Gemini, GPT and DeepSeek models, and batches cost half price.
Updated
The lowest-priced models today
| Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gemma 4 E4B IT | ₦35.10 | ₦176 | 131,072 |
| GPT OSS 20B | ₦52.65 | ₦246 | 131,072 |
| Nova Micro | ₦61.43 | ₦246 | 128,000 |
| GPT OSS 120B | ₦64.94 | ₦298 | 131,072 |
| Nemotron 3 Nano 30B A3B | ₦87.75 | ₦351 | 262,144 |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash 0731 | ₦105 | ₦316 | 1,048,576 |
| Ministral 3 3B | ₦176 | ₦176 | 256,000 |
| Nova Lite | ₦105 | ₦421 | 300,000 |
| NVIDIA Nemotron Nano 3 30B | ₦105 | ₦421 | 262,144 |
| GLM-4.7-Flash | ₦105 | ₦702 | 202,752 |
Per million tokens, in naira. The cheapest model is not always the best value: a model that gets more answers right can cost less in the end.
Six ways to pay less per request
- Use a smaller model where it is good enough. Many tasks (sorting messages, pulling out a phone number, short replies) do not need the biggest model.
- Keep what stays the same at the start of the conversation and send a
prompt_cache_key: prompt caching then bills repeated instructions at the cached rate. - Send work nobody is waiting for as a batch: half price, answered within a day.
- Ask many questions about one long document with a context cache instead of sending it every time.
- Put a naira limit on each key and a budget on each of your users, so nothing runs away.
- Test a cheaper model on your own examples with AI tasks, which tells you whether it is as good before you switch.
Common questions
What is the cheapest AI API in Nigeria?
On Bridge, the table on this page lists the lowest-priced models, in naira, as they stand today. Paying in naira by bank transfer also avoids card fees and declined dollar charges.
Is prompt caching automatic?
Yes, on Claude, Gemini, GPT and DeepSeek models. Keep the parts that stay the same at the start and send one prompt_cache_key per conversation; the reply's usage shows the cached tokens.
How do I know a cheaper model is good enough?
Run it on your own examples. AI tasks on Bridge compares models on your cases against what a good answer looks like, and recommends switching only when the cheaper one passes.