GPT-5 Mini vs OpenAI gpt-oss-120b

Compare GPT-5 Mini and OpenAI gpt-oss-120b on the metrics that decide an agent workload.

MetricGPT-5 MiniOpenAI gpt-oss-120b
ProviderOpenAIFireworks AI
Input / 1M$0.25$0.15
Output / 1M$2.00$0.60
Cache read / 1M$0.03 (−90%)$0.01 (−90%)
Reuse-adj @55%$0.59$0.21
Context400K131K
Cache capture85%79%
Warm TTFT150ms (−63%)120ms (−64%)
Quality index8279

Teal marks the better value in each row. Reuse-adjusted assumes 55% prefix reuse and a 25% output share.

Pick GPT-5 Mini when

Pick GPT-5 Mini when it scores higher on the composite quality index, it carries the larger 400K context window, it captures more of the available reuse.

Pick OpenAI gpt-oss-120b when

Pick OpenAI gpt-oss-120b when it is cheaper once prefix reuse is priced in, it answers faster on warm cache hits, it is open-weights for on-prem and regulated lanes.

Verdict

GPT-5 Mini leads on quality while OpenAI gpt-oss-120b leads on reuse-adjusted cost. Send latency- and budget-sensitive volume to OpenAI gpt-oss-120b and reserve GPT-5 Mini for the hard requests. Zumik's aliases route between them automatically under policy.

GPT-5 Mini vs OpenAI gpt-oss-120b, answered.

Is GPT-5 Mini or OpenAI gpt-oss-120b cheaper?

At 55% prefix reuse, GPT-5 Mini blends to about $0.59 per 1M tokens and OpenAI gpt-oss-120b to about $0.21. OpenAI gpt-oss-120b is cheaper on that basis.

Which has the larger context window?

GPT-5 Mini has the larger window: 400K vs 131K tokens.

Which captures more reuse?

GPT-5 Mini shows higher measured cache capture (85% vs 79%) in the Zumik corpus.

Let an alias pick for you.

Route to whichever model wins under current policy automatically. Zumik resolves the alias to the best fit per request, so you never hard-code a loser.