[Playground] Show model cost (and intelligence?) in the model selector #3333
Description
Discussed in #3158
Originally posted by mmabrouk December 12, 2025
Description
User request: better visibility into model costs directly in the playground’s model selector.
“It would be nice to provide the cost for 1000 runs. This is also very useful for us to choose the right model depending on the use case and the cost and the performance to balance cost and performance.”
Problem
Currently, the playground shows cost per run in the trace details, but users cannot see approximate costs when selecting a model. This makes it harder to quickly balance cost vs. performance while iterating on prompts and choosing a model for a given use case.
Requested behavior
In the playground model selector dropdown:
- Display approximate cost information per model (e.g. cost / 1K tokens or cost / 1K runs estimate where applicable).
- Optionally also surface an “intelligence level” or performance tier indicator (e.g. “cheap / mid / premium” or similar heuristic) to help non-expert users quickly understand tradeoffs.