Aion Labs lists 8 models and Scaledown 2. Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model ($0.03 per 1M tokens median). Below: line-up, price tiers, the cheapest model for each capability, and what each costs for five real workloads.
| Aion Labs | Scaledown | |
|---|---|---|
| Models listed | 8 | 2 |
| Models with published pricing | 8 | 2 |
| Typical price (median, 3:1 blend per 1M) | $1.00 | $0.03 |
| Cheapest paid model | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini ($0.87) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| Longest context | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 (262K) | ScaleDown: Extract (1M) |
| Free models | 0 | 0 |
| Newest model | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 (2026-09-23) | ScaleDown: Extract (2026-10-13) |
| Price changes in the last 90 days | 0 | 0 |
For each workload: the cheapest model from each provider that can actually do it (fits the context window; tool calling required for the agent), and its monthly cost at list price.
| Workload (per month) | Aion Labs | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation | $80.50 with AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | $3.00 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages | $98.00 with AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | $4.80 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context | $101 with AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | no suitable model |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page | $64.40 with AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | $3.20 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass | $36.40 with AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini | $2.00 with ScaleDown: Extract |
| You need | Aion Labs | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Any model | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini ($0.87) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| With tool calling | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini ($0.87) | none listed |
| With image input | none listed | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| With reasoning mode | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini ($0.87) | none listed |
| 128K+ context | AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini ($0.87) | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| 1M+ context | none listed | ScaleDown: Extract ($0.03) |
| Model type | Aion Labs | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| text+image+file->text | 0 | 2 |
| text->text | 8 | 0 |
| Price per 1M (3:1 blend) | Aion Labs | Scaledown |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 0 | 0 |
| Under $0.50 | 0 | 2 |
| $0.50 – $3 | 5 | 0 |
| $3 – $10 | 3 | 0 |
| $10 and up | 0 | 0 |
Scaledown is cheaper on a typical model: a median of $0.03 per 1M tokens (3:1 input/output) against $1.00 for Aion Labs. The cheapest paid models are AionLabs: Aion 3.5 Mini at $0.87 and ScaleDown: Extract at $0.03.
It depends on the job: Aion Labs offers the broader line-up (8 models vs 2), Scaledown the lower typical price, Scaledown the longest context (1M tokens). The workload table above shows which wins for chat, RAG, agents, batch jobs and long documents.
Aion Labs: Aion Labs lists 8 models and Scaledown lists 2.
Scaledown: Aion Labs's longest is AionLabs: Aion 3.5 at 262K tokens; Scaledown's is ScaleDown: Extract at 1M.
Neither lists a free model; both are pay-per-token.
Aion Labs: 0 of 8 models accept images. Scaledown: 2 of 2.