GPT-5 mini vs GPT-5 nano

GPT-5 mini vs GPT-5 nano: GPT-5 nano is cheaper by 80% on average. GPT-5 mini from OpenAI (272,000-token context, reasoning, tool calls) vs. GPT-5 nano from Azure OpenAI (272,000-token context, reasoning, tool calls). Use Agent Command Center to A/B both in shadow mode and pick the winner per workload.

Side-by-side cost

Live workload comparison

Same workload run through both models. The cheaper one is highlighted.

3,000
0272,000
400
0128,000
5,000
01,000,000
OpenAI
$236/mo
Input $0.250/M · Output $2.00/M
GPT-5 nanoCheaper
Azure OpenAI
$47.18/mo
Input $0.0500/M · Output $0.400/M
At this workload, GPT-5 nano is 80% cheaper than GPT-5 mini — a savings of $189/month ($2,265/year).
Production recipe — Agent Command Center
strategy: cost-optimized
primary:
  model: gpt-5-nano
  provider: azure-openai
fallback:
  model: gpt-5-mini
  provider: openai
shadow: { sample_rate: 0.05 }   # mirror 5% of traffic to compare quality live
GPT-5 mini GPT-5 nano
Input price $0.250/M $0.0500/M
Output price $2.00/M $0.400/M
Context window 272,000 272,000
Max output 128,000 128,000
Function calling
Vision
Audio input
Reasoning
Prompt caching
Structured output
Pricing verified May 12, 2026 May 12, 2026
Cheaper option
~80% cheaper than GPT-5 mini
Larger context
272,000 tokens
More capabilities
5 of 6 capability flags advertised

Benchmark comparison

Side-by-side public benchmark scores. Greener bar = winner.

Chatbot Arena ELOgeneral
GPT-5 mini
1,395
GPT-5 nano
1,325
HumanEvalcode
GPT-5 mini
93.5%
GPT-5 nano
86.3%
AIME 2024math
GPT-5 mini
91.1%
GPT-5 nano
MMLU-Proreasoning
GPT-5 mini
82.0%
GPT-5 nano
73.0%
GPQA Diamondreasoning
GPT-5 mini
78.4%
GPT-5 nano
SWE-bench Verifiedagent
GPT-5 mini
68.0%
GPT-5 nano