How Many Code Completions Is 1 Million Output Tokens?

One million output tokens produces approximately 5,000 code completions. A typical function implementation, refactor, or bug fix runs about 200 tokens.

Why this matters

Output tokens cost 2-8x more than input tokens because the model generates them sequentially. Understanding output token budgets is critical for any application that relies on AI-generated text, code, or summaries at scale.

β‰ˆ 5,000 code completions function implementations, drawn to scale

1 block = 1 completion

The answer

β‰ˆ 5,000 code completions

function implementations

The math

Basis assumption

~200 tokens per code completion

Calculation

A typical code completion β€” a function implementation, a refactor, a bug fix β€” runs about 200 tokens. A million output tokens is 5,000 of these.

Result

1,000,000 tokens = 5,000 function implementations

Quick reference

Other ways to measure one million tokens in the same category:

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