GPT 5 Mini is OpenAI's faster, more cost-efficient version of GPT 5, used as the ChatGPT fallback model and capped at 'high' reasoning effort in the API.
Capabilities, design details, and architectural traits
GPT 5 Mini is documented as a faster, more cost-efficient version of GPT 5, built for well-defined tasks and precise prompts. It sits inside OpenAI's GPT 5 lineup as the size meant to trade some capability for speed and cost.
| Trait | Detail |
|---|---|
| Defining purpose | A faster, more cost-efficient version of GPT 5, suited to well-defined tasks and precise prompts rather than the hardest reasoning problems. |
| ChatGPT fallback role | Documented as the model free ChatGPT users are switched to once they reach their GPT 5 usage limits, rather than a model chosen directly. |
| Reasoning effort ceiling | OpenAI states the highest reasoning_effort setting available for GPT 5 Mini is high, one tier below the extra-high setting offered on larger models. |
| Documented lineage | Positioned as the successor to o4-mini, and recommended over GPT-4.1 mini when a task needs more complex handling. |
OpenAI released GPT 5 in three sizes at once: gpt-5, gpt-5-mini, and gpt-5-nano, explicitly to let developers trade off performance, cost, and latency. GPT 5 Mini is the middle tier in that set, between the nano model and the full GPT 5 model.
Independent evaluations · Artificial Analysis
Evaluate specifications, pricing, and independent benchmark indices
| Model Details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General Info | |||
| Provider | OpenAI | Anthropic | Anthropic |
| Release Date | August 7, 2025 | July 24, 2026 | June 9, 2026 |
| Knowledge Cutoff | May 2024 | May 2026 | - |
| Context & Limits | |||
| Context Window | 400K | 1M Best Context Window | 1M Best Context Window |
| Pricing (per 1M tokens) | |||
| Input Pricing | $0.25 Best Input Pricing | $5 | $10 |
| Output Pricing | $2 Best Output Pricing | $25 | $50 |
| Modalities | |||
| Inputs | textimagefile | textimage | textimagefile |
| Outputs | text | text | text |
| Benchmarks (0-100) | |||
| Intelligence Index | 25.8 | 63.1 Best Intelligence Index | 62.1 |
| Coding Index | 15.6 | 78.0 Best Coding Index | 76.5 |
| Agentic Index | 19.6 | 59.2 Best Agentic Index | 56.6 |
Graduate-level reasoning and expert Q&A evaluation.
Extremely difficult logical reasoning and knowledge.
Logical reasoning over long context windows.
Independent evaluation data provided by Artificial Analysis. To view the latest benchmarks and full details, visit their official site.
