GPT-5.1 Reasoning vs GPT-5.2 Max: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-5.1 Reasoning and GPT-5.2 Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-5.2 Max has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-5.1 Reasoning is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-5.1 Reasoning
GPT-5.1 Reasoning is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $20.27 per million input tokens and $82.11 per million output tokens, and averages 88.3 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $20.27 / 1M
- Output
- $82.11 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 88.3
- Open weights
- No
GPT-5.2 Max
GPT-5.2 Max is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $21.39 per million input tokens and $90.69 per million output tokens, and averages 89.2 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $21.39 / 1M
- Output
- $90.69 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 89.2
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-5.1 Reasoning | GPT-5.2 Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $20.27 | $21.39 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $82.11 | $90.69 | A |
| Context window | 400,000 | 1,000,000 | B |
| Max output | 128,000 | 128,000 | Tie |
| Average score | 88.3 | 89.2 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1485.9 | 1495.3 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-5.1 Reasoning wins 3, GPT-5.2 Max wins 9, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.1 Reasoning | GPT-5.2 Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 90.0 | 87.6 | 2.4 | GPT-5.1 Reasoning |
| GPQA Diamond | 85.6 | 83.4 | 2.2 | GPT-5.1 Reasoning |
| SWE-bench Verified | 76.0 | 80.5 | 4.5 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| HumanEval | 92.9 | 93.6 | 0.7 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| MATH-500 | 95.9 | 96.7 | 0.8 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| AIME 2025 | 85.0 | 88.2 | 3.2 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 80.9 | 84.8 | 3.9 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| IFEval | 94.6 | 95.2 | 0.6 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| TruthfulQA | 90.0 | 88.1 | 1.9 | GPT-5.1 Reasoning |
| HellaSwag | 94.4 | 96.1 | 1.7 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| MMMU | 86.2 | 86.9 | 0.7 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| Arena Elo | 1485.9 | 1495.3 | 9.4 | GPT-5.2 Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-5.1 Reasoning costs about $35.73 per million tokens and GPT-5.2 Max costs about $38.72. GPT-5.1 Reasoning is roughly 8% cheaper than GPT-5.2 Max. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
GPT-5.2 Max has the larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens, compared with 400,000 for GPT-5.1 Reasoning. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-5.1 Reasoning wins 3, GPT-5.2 Max wins 9, and 0 are tied. On the index average, GPT-5.2 Max leads GPT-5.1 Reasoning by 0.9 points (89.2 versus 88.3).
The price picture favours GPT-5.1 Reasoning. The context picture favours GPT-5.2 Max. 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-5.2 Max for quality-sensitive work and GPT-5.1 Reasoning for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose GPT-5.1 Reasoning if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
Choose GPT-5.2 Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- You need the larger 1,000,000-token context window.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.1 Reasoning better than GPT-5.2 Max?
On the index average, GPT-5.2 Max leads GPT-5.1 Reasoning by 0.9 points (89.2 versus 88.3). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-5.1 Reasoning wins 3 benchmarks, GPT-5.2 Max wins 9.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.1 Reasoning or GPT-5.2 Max?
GPT-5.1 Reasoning is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $35.73 per million tokens, versus $38.72 for GPT-5.2 Max.
Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5.2 Max has the larger context window at 1,000,000 tokens. GPT-5.1 Reasoning has 400,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-5.1 Reasoning is proprietary; GPT-5.2 Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.2 Max for quality-sensitive work and GPT-5.1 Reasoning for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.