| --- |
| license: cc-by-4.0 |
| language: |
| - en |
| pretty_name: Token cost by programming language (Claude, Gemini, GPT) |
| size_categories: |
| - n<1K |
| tags: |
| - code |
| - programming-languages |
| - tokenizer |
| - llm-cost |
| - claude |
| - gemini |
| - gpt |
| configs: |
| - config_name: default |
| data_files: |
| - split: train |
| path: token-cost-by-programming-language.csv |
| --- |
| |
| # Token cost by programming language: the same programs in 10 languages on Claude, Gemini and GPT |
|
|
| Two small programs (an inventory class and Dijkstra's shortest path) written in Python, Ruby, JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Rust, Java, C++, Go and C, with input tokens counted on Claude Opus/Sonnet 5.5, Claude Haiku 4.5, Gemini 3.x and GPT (o200k_base). |
| |
| **Headline:** both programs together cost 809 GPT tokens in Python and 1,536 in C (+90%). Python and Ruby were the cheapest on every tokenizer; Go and C the most expensive. Claude 5.5 needed 43% to 59% more tokens than GPT for the same code. |
| |
| - Source page, chart and method: https://tokensave.app/data/token-cost-by-programming-language |
| - Related: token cost by data format (https://tokensave.app/data/token-cost-by-format) |
| - DOI (Zenodo): [10.5281/zenodo.23446563](https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23446563) |
| - Also on: [Hugging Face](https://huggingface.co/datasets/JOHNISKING/token-cost-by-programming-language) · [Kaggle](https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/johnisking/token-cost-by-programming-language) |
| - Measured: 2026-10-18 |
| - License: CC BY 4.0 |
| |
| ## Key findings |
| |
| - Python and Ruby are the cheapest: 809 and 819 GPT tokens. JavaScript needs +20%, Java +50%, Go +68% and C +90%. |
| - The ranking holds on every tokenizer tested. |
| - Claude 5.5 costs 43% to 59% more than GPT for the same code (largest gap: Java). Gemini needs 12% to 25% more than GPT. |
| - Types add tokens: TypeScript needs 11% more GPT tokens than the same JavaScript. |
| - File size is a rough guide only: Java has the most characters, but Go and C need more tokens. |
| |
| ## Files |
| |
| - `token-cost-by-programming-language.csv`: one row per language and program (`inventory`, `dijkstra` and `total`) with `language, program, characters, lines, claude55_tokens, claude45_tokens, gemini_tokens, gpt_tokens` |
| - `token-cost-by-programming-language.json`: the same data plus all 20 source files, so every count can be reproduced |
| |
| ## Data (both programs together) |
| |
| | Language | Characters | Claude Opus/Sonnet 5.5 | Claude Haiku 4.5 | Gemini 3.x | GPT (o200k) | GPT vs Python | |
| |---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:| |
| | Python | 2,887 | 1,176 | 970 | 963 | 809 | ±0% | |
| | Ruby | 2,478 | 1,181 | 961 | 944 | 819 | +1% | |
| | JavaScript | 3,195 | 1,442 | 1,199 | 1,184 | 967 | +20% | |
| | TypeScript | 3,610 | 1,590 | 1,311 | 1,288 | 1,070 | +32% | |
| | PHP | 3,697 | 1,609 | 1,311 | 1,262 | 1,128 | +39% | |
| | Rust | 4,081 | 1,815 | 1,452 | 1,411 | 1,189 | +47% | |
| | Java | 5,101 | 1,934 | 1,551 | 1,511 | 1,217 | +50% | |
| | C++ | 4,793 | 1,933 | 1,626 | 1,617 | 1,343 | +66% | |
| | Go | 4,292 | 2,143 | 1,749 | 1,701 | 1,359 | +68% | |
| | C | 4,843 | 2,219 | 1,859 | 1,820 | 1,536 | +90% | |
| |
| ## Method |
| |
| 1. Each program written idiomatically in each language with no comments. Every version was compiled or run and printed exactly the same output as the Python version. |
| 2. Claude: each file sent through Claude Code (`claude -p`) with a fixed one-line system prompt; input tokens minus the same run with a one-character message. Opus 5.5 and Sonnet 5.5 gave identical counts; a re-run gave identical counts. |
| 3. Gemini: Google AI Studio prompt token counter on Gemini 3.8 Flash, minus its one start token. |
| 4. GPT: tiktoken with `o200k_base`. |
|
|
| ## Limitations |
|
|
| - Two small programs. Comments, long names or boilerplate in real projects can shift the numbers; the ranking is more stable than the exact percentages. |
| - Coding style changes the count within a language. |
| - Input tokens only; not a measure of how well each model writes each language. |
|
|
| ## Citation |
|
|
| TokenSave (2026). Token cost by programming language: the same programs in 10 languages on Claude, Gemini and GPT [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23446563 |
|
|
| Count tokens for your own code at [tokensave.app](https://tokensave.app/). |
|
|
