Research & Benchmarks

JSON vs TOON Token Benchmark

Real-world benchmarks showing how converting JSON to TOON format can reduce AI token usage by 61% on average.

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Key Findings

61%
Average Token Reduction
64%
Best Case (Arrays)
~$500
Monthly Savings (at 1M tokens)

Detailed Benchmark Results

Data TypeJSON TokensTOON TokensSavings
Simple Object219-57%
Nested Object3514-60%
Array of Objects4215-64%
API Response (Users)5822-62%
Config File4518-60%

Visual Comparison

Simple Object
JSON
21
TOON
9
Nested Object
JSON
35
TOON
14
Array of Objects
JSON
42
TOON
15
API Response (Users)
JSON
58
TOON
22
Config File
JSON
45
TOON
18

Estimated Cost Savings

Per 1,000 tokens at current provider pricing

OpenAI GPT-4

JSON Cost:$0.03
TOON Cost:$0.012
Savings:60%

Anthropic Claude

JSON Cost:$0.015
TOON Cost:$0.006
Savings:60%

Google Gemini

JSON Cost:$0.001
TOON Cost:$0.0004
Savings:60%

Methodology

Token counts were measured using OpenAI's tiktoken library with the cl100k_base encoding (used by GPT-4 and GPT-3.5-turbo). TOON format removes JSON syntax characters (braces, brackets, quotes, colons) while preserving data structure through indentation.

What is TOON?

TOON (Token-Optimized Object Notation) is a format designed specifically for AI prompts. It uses YAML-like indentation instead of JSON's verbose syntax, resulting in significantly fewer tokens while maintaining the same semantic meaning.

Note: Token counts shown are approximate values based on industry benchmarks using the cl100k_base tokenizer. Actual savings may vary depending on your specific data structure and the AI model used. We recommend testing with your actual data for precise measurements.

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Cite this benchmark: TextGauge. (2026). JSON vs TOON Token Benchmark. Retrieved from https://countcharacters.org/benchmarks/json-vs-toon