OpenAI‘s model lineup has evolved rapidly, and with the release of GPT-5.2 in December 2025, the company now offers a wide range of models tailored for everything from quick lookups to deep reasoning and enterprise-grade coding. Whether you’re a developer choosing an API model or a ChatGPT subscriber wondering which model to select, this comprehensive comparison breaks down what each model does best — and what it costs.
GPT-5.2: OpenAI’s Most Capable Model
Released on December 11, 2025, GPT-5.2 (codenamed “Garlic” during development) represents OpenAI’s most advanced model to date. It was designed specifically for professional knowledge work, coding, and agentic workflows — tasks where the model operates autonomously across multiple steps.
Key Specifications
- Context Window: 400,000 tokens — over 3x larger than GPT-4o’s 128K
- Max Output: 128,000 tokens
- Knowledge Cutoff: August 2025
- Input Types: Text and images
- API Pricing: $1.75 / 1M input tokens, $14.00 / 1M output tokens
- Cached Input Pricing: $0.175 / 1M tokens (10x reduction)
Three Operating Modes
GPT-5.2 comes in three distinct modes, each optimized for different use cases:
- Instant: Optimized for fast lookups, quick support responses, and low-latency tasks
- Thinking: Designed for high-complexity tasks like legal research, document synthesis, and deep analysis
- Pro: Maximum context and reasoning for enterprise users and agent-driven workflows ($21.00 / 1M input, $168.00 / 1M output)
Benchmark Performance
GPT-5.2 sets new records across multiple benchmarks:
- AIME 2025: 100% (perfect score)
- GPQA Diamond: 93.2% (Pro variant)
- HMMT 2025: 99.4%
- Tau2-bench Telecom: 98.7% (tool-calling accuracy)
- SWE-Bench Pro: 55.6%
- ScreenSpot Pro: 86.3%
On OpenAI’s internal GDPval evaluation, which measures well-specified knowledge work across 44 occupations, GPT-5.2 Thinking beats or ties top industry professionals on 70.9% of comparisons — while producing outputs at over 11x the speed and less than 1% of the cost of human experts.
GPT-5.2 Codex
Released on January 14, 2026, GPT-5.2-Codex is a specialized variant further optimized for agentic coding. It features improved performance on long-horizon development tasks, stronger capabilities for large-scale refactors and code migrations, and enhanced cybersecurity analysis.
GPT-5 and GPT-5 Pro
GPT-5 was OpenAI’s first model in the 5th-generation series, designed for coding, reasoning, and agentic tasks. While still available through the API, OpenAI recommends upgrading to GPT-5.2 for better performance.
- Context Window: 400,000 tokens
- API Pricing: $1.25 / 1M input tokens, $10.00 / 1M output tokens
- Reasoning Effort: Supports minimal, low, medium, and high settings
GPT-5 Pro is the extended-reasoning variant at $15.00 / 1M input and $120.00 / 1M output, designed for mission-critical tasks where accuracy is paramount.
GPT-4.1: The Million-Token Context King
Released in April 2025, GPT-4.1 stands out with its massive 1 million token context window — the largest in OpenAI’s lineup. It’s a non-reasoning model that excels at coding and instruction following.
- Context Window: 1,047,576 tokens (1M+)
- Max Output: 32,768 tokens
- Knowledge Cutoff: June 2024
- API Pricing: $2.00 / 1M input tokens, $8.00 / 1M output tokens
- SWE-Bench Verified: 54.6% (vs. 33.2% for GPT-4o)
GPT-4.1 also comes in mini and nano variants. GPT-4.1 mini matches GPT-4o performance at 83% lower cost, while GPT-4.1 nano is OpenAI’s fastest model — ideal for classification, autocompletion, and latency-sensitive applications.
GPT-4o: The Multimodal Workhorse
GPT-4o (“omni”) remains relevant as OpenAI’s general-purpose multimodal model. It processes text, images, and documents, and is the only model in the lineup that supports audio input and output through the API.
- Context Window: 128,000 tokens
- API Pricing: $2.50 / 1M input tokens, $10.00 / 1M output tokens
- Availability: All ChatGPT plans including Free
However, its dominance has faded rapidly. By January 2026, OpenAI reported that only 0.1% of daily ChatGPT users still selected GPT-4o, with the vast majority having migrated to GPT-5.2.
o3 and o4-mini: The Reasoning Specialists
OpenAI’s o-series models are purpose-built for deep reasoning, mathematics, and scientific tasks.
o3 delivers state-of-the-art results on coding benchmarks (Codeforces, SWE-bench) and math evaluations (AIME, GPQA Diamond), though it requires extended thinking time. Priced at $2.00 / 1M input and $8.00 / 1M output with a 200K context window, it’s built for tasks where accuracy matters more than speed. Its o3-pro variant ($25.00 / $100.00) allows even longer reasoning for maximum reliability.
o4-mini offers approximately 80% lower costs than o3 ($1.10 / 1M input, $4.40 / 1M output) while maintaining strong STEM performance. It’s the go-to choice for budget-conscious reasoning tasks like homework, practice problems, and routine analysis.
Full Model Comparison Table
| Model | Context Window | Input Price (per 1M tokens) | Output Price (per 1M tokens) | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-5.2 | 400K | $1.75 | $14.00 | Coding, agentic workflows, deep analysis |
| GPT-5.2 Pro | 400K | $21.00 | $168.00 | Mission-critical enterprise tasks |
| GPT-5 | 400K | $1.25 | $10.00 | General reasoning and coding |
| GPT-4.1 | 1M+ | $2.00 | $8.00 | Large codebases, long documents |
| GPT-4o | 128K | $2.50 | $10.00 | Multimodal tasks, audio I/O |
| o3 | 200K | $2.00 | $8.00 | Complex reasoning, math, science |
| o4-mini | 200K | $1.10 | $4.40 | Budget-friendly STEM reasoning |
| GPT-4o mini | 128K | $0.15 | $0.60 | Lightweight tasks, classification |
Which Model Should You Use?
Choosing the right ChatGPT model depends on your specific needs:
- For most users: GPT-5.2 (Thinking mode) is the default recommendation — it’s OpenAI’s smartest and most versatile model
- For developers and coding: GPT-5.2 or GPT-5.2-Codex for agentic coding; GPT-4.1 if you need a 1M token context window
- For math and science: o3 or o4-mini deliver top-tier reasoning at different price points
- For budget-conscious use: GPT-4o mini at $0.15 per million input tokens remains unbeatable for simple tasks
- For audio applications: GPT-4o is the only option with native audio I/O support
- For enterprise-critical decisions: GPT-5.2 Pro or o3-pro when accuracy justifies the premium pricing
The Bottom Line
OpenAI’s 2026 model lineup reflects a clear strategy: specialized models for specialized tasks. The era of one-model-fits-all is over. GPT-5.2 leads the pack with its 400K context window and state-of-the-art benchmarks, but models like GPT-4.1 (with its 1M context), o3 (for deep reasoning), and GPT-4o mini (for cost efficiency) each have a distinct role to play.
For ChatGPT subscribers, the Plus plan (/month) provides access to GPT-5.2 Thinking, GPT-4.1, o3, and o4-mini — covering the vast majority of use cases. Developers building on the API should carefully consider the trade-offs between context size, reasoning depth, speed, and cost when selecting a model for their applications.
