Gemini 3 Pro Max vs GPT-5.1 Max: which model should you choose?
We compared Gemini 3 Pro Max and GPT-5.1 Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. Gemini 3 Pro Max and GPT-5.1 Max are effectively tied on the index average; GPT-5.1 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
Gemini 3 Pro Max
Gemini 3 Pro Max is a frontier model from Google DeepMind. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $20.57 per million input tokens and $112.92 per million output tokens, and averages 87.9 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $20.57 / 1M
- Output
- $112.92 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 87.9
- Open weights
- No
GPT-5.1 Max
GPT-5.1 Max is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $20.50 per million input tokens and $103.98 per million output tokens, and averages 87.9 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $20.50 / 1M
- Output
- $103.98 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 87.9
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | Gemini 3 Pro Max | GPT-5.1 Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $20.57 | $20.50 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $112.92 | $103.98 | B |
| Context window | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 128,000 | 8,192 | A |
| Average score | 87.9 | 87.9 | Tie |
| Arena Elo | 1477.5 | 1478.2 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
Gemini 3 Pro Max wins 5, GPT-5.1 Max wins 7, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | Gemini 3 Pro Max | GPT-5.1 Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 89.5 | 91.3 | 1.8 | GPT-5.1 Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 81.8 | 86.4 | 4.6 | GPT-5.1 Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 76.6 | 75.6 | 1.0 | Gemini 3 Pro Max |
| HumanEval | 91.9 | 92.2 | 0.3 | GPT-5.1 Max |
| MATH-500 | 92.1 | 91.3 | 0.8 | Gemini 3 Pro Max |
| AIME 2025 | 89.6 | 88.8 | 0.8 | Gemini 3 Pro Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 83.6 | 80.2 | 3.4 | Gemini 3 Pro Max |
| IFEval | 94.7 | 92.2 | 2.5 | Gemini 3 Pro Max |
| TruthfulQA | 89.6 | 91.1 | 1.5 | GPT-5.1 Max |
| HellaSwag | 92.6 | 93.1 | 0.5 | GPT-5.1 Max |
| MMMU | 84.4 | 85.1 | 0.7 | GPT-5.1 Max |
| Arena Elo | 1477.5 | 1478.2 | 0.7 | GPT-5.1 Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, Gemini 3 Pro Max costs about $43.66 per million tokens and GPT-5.1 Max costs about $41.37. GPT-5.1 Max is roughly 5% cheaper than Gemini 3 Pro Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 2,000,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, Gemini 3 Pro Max wins 5, GPT-5.1 Max wins 7, and 0 are tied. The two models are effectively tied on the index average at 87.9.
The price picture favours GPT-5.1 Max. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.1 Max if cost is the constraint and Gemini 3 Pro Max if context is the constraint. Test both on a sample of your own traffic before committing.
Choose Gemini 3 Pro Max if
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
Choose GPT-5.1 Max if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
FAQ
Is Gemini 3 Pro Max better than GPT-5.1 Max?
The two models are effectively tied on the index average at 87.9. The better choice depends on price, context and your task. Gemini 3 Pro Max wins 5 benchmarks, GPT-5.1 Max wins 7.
Which is cheaper, Gemini 3 Pro Max or GPT-5.1 Max?
GPT-5.1 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $41.37 per million tokens, versus $43.66 for Gemini 3 Pro Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 2,000,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
Gemini 3 Pro Max is proprietary; GPT-5.1 Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.1 Max if cost is the constraint and Gemini 3 Pro Max if context is the constraint. Test both on a sample of your own traffic before committing.