Which cheap LLM API is reliable for function calling and structured JSON?
Engeneer_Matt · reddit · 2026-10-21
A Reddit user asks for recommendations on low-cost LLM APIs balancing price, speed and reliability for generating travel itineraries with function calling for flight data, needing valid JSON and decent reasoning. Testing mainly via OpenRouter, they ask about real-world experience with Qwen, DeepSeek, Gemini Flash, Groq and Cerebras, sparking discussion on cheap models' tool-calling reliability.
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