What Is a Context Window?
A context window is the maximum amount of text a model can process in a single request - both the input you send and the output it generates. It is measured in tokens, where one token is roughly 0.75 English words.
Why It Matters
Context length directly affects what tasks a model can handle:
- Short (8K–32K): Chat, Q&A, code generation for small files
- Medium (64K–128K): Document summarization, longer codebases, multi-turn conversations
- Long (200K–1M+): Entire repository analysis, book-length documents, complex agent chains
Cost Trade-offs
Larger context windows generally cost more per token. A 1M token model is not always the right choice - if your task only needs 10K tokens, using a 128K model at half the price is the smarter decision.
| Model | Context | Input Price (per 1M) |
|---|---|---|
| Gemini 2.0 Flash | 1M | $0.10 |
| GPT-4o | 128K | $2.50 |
| Claude 3.5 Sonnet | 200K | $3.00 |
Our Recommendation
Start with the smallest context window that fits your use case. Use the Infyrence model catalog to filter by context size and compare prices side by side.
ModelsPerformanceGuide
