GPT-5.1 vs GPT-5.2 Vision: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-5.1 and GPT-5.2 Vision on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-5.2 Vision has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-5.1 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-5.1
GPT-5.1 is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $19.01 per million input tokens and $69.84 per million output tokens, and averages 86.0 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.01 / 1M
- Output
- $69.84 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 86.0
- Open weights
- No
GPT-5.2 Vision
GPT-5.2 Vision is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $19.03 per million input tokens and $85.72 per million output tokens, and averages 87.4 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.03 / 1M
- Output
- $85.72 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 87.4
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-5.1 | GPT-5.2 Vision | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $19.01 | $19.03 | A |
| Output price / 1M | $69.84 | $85.72 | A |
| Context window | 2,000,000 | 1,000,000 | A |
| Max output | 128,000 | 16,384 | A |
| Average score | 86.0 | 87.4 | B |
| Arena Elo | 1462.5 | 1484.3 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-5.1 wins 2, GPT-5.2 Vision wins 10, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.1 | GPT-5.2 Vision | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 86.1 | 89.5 | 3.4 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| GPQA Diamond | 82.3 | 82.1 | 0.2 | GPT-5.1 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 76.1 | 78.8 | 2.7 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| HumanEval | 90.6 | 91.2 | 0.6 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| MATH-500 | 90.5 | 92.9 | 2.4 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| AIME 2025 | 85.6 | 85.7 | 0.1 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| LiveCodeBench | 78.9 | 83.4 | 4.5 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| IFEval | 90.9 | 93.9 | 3.0 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| TruthfulQA | 89.2 | 85.3 | 3.9 | GPT-5.1 |
| HellaSwag | 92.2 | 94.6 | 2.4 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| MMMU | 83.3 | 84.4 | 1.1 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
| Arena Elo | 1462.5 | 1484.3 | 21.8 | GPT-5.2 Vision |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-5.1 costs about $31.72 per million tokens and GPT-5.2 Vision costs about $35.70. GPT-5.1 is roughly 11% cheaper than GPT-5.2 Vision. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
GPT-5.1 has the larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens, compared with 1,000,000 for GPT-5.2 Vision. That matters for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-5.1 wins 2, GPT-5.2 Vision wins 10, and 0 are tied. On the index average, GPT-5.2 Vision leads GPT-5.1 by 1.4 points (87.4 versus 86.0).
The price picture favours GPT-5.1. The context picture favours GPT-5.1. 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 Vision for quality-sensitive work and GPT-5.1 for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose GPT-5.1 if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 2,000,000-token context window.
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
Choose GPT-5.2 Vision if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.1 better than GPT-5.2 Vision?
On the index average, GPT-5.2 Vision leads GPT-5.1 by 1.4 points (87.4 versus 86.0). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-5.1 wins 2 benchmarks, GPT-5.2 Vision wins 10.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.1 or GPT-5.2 Vision?
GPT-5.1 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $31.72 per million tokens, versus $35.70 for GPT-5.2 Vision.
Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5.1 has the larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens. GPT-5.2 Vision has 1,000,000 tokens.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-5.1 is proprietary; GPT-5.2 Vision is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.2 Vision for quality-sensitive work and GPT-5.1 for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.