GPT-5.2 Max vs GPT-5.2 Reasoning: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-5.2 Max and GPT-5.2 Reasoning on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-5.2 Max has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-5.2 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
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
GPT-5.2 Reasoning
GPT-5.2 Reasoning is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $20.98 per million input tokens and $102.78 per million output tokens, and averages 87.5 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $20.98 / 1M
- Output
- $102.78 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 87.5
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-5.2 Max | GPT-5.2 Reasoning | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $21.39 | $20.98 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $90.69 | $102.78 | A |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 128,000 | 65,536 | A |
| Average score | 89.2 | 87.5 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1495.3 | 1500.4 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-5.2 Max wins 9, GPT-5.2 Reasoning wins 3, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Max | GPT-5.2 Reasoning | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 87.6 | 87.0 | 0.6 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 83.4 | 87.0 | 3.6 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| SWE-bench Verified | 80.5 | 78.2 | 2.3 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| HumanEval | 93.6 | 92.4 | 1.2 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| MATH-500 | 96.7 | 91.4 | 5.3 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| AIME 2025 | 88.2 | 84.9 | 3.3 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 84.8 | 84.6 | 0.2 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| IFEval | 95.2 | 95.0 | 0.2 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| TruthfulQA | 88.1 | 88.2 | 0.1 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| HellaSwag | 96.1 | 92.5 | 3.6 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| MMMU | 86.9 | 81.5 | 5.4 | GPT-5.2 Max |
| Arena Elo | 1495.3 | 1500.4 | 5.1 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-5.2 Max costs about $38.72 per million tokens and GPT-5.2 Reasoning costs about $41.43. GPT-5.2 Max is roughly 7% cheaper than GPT-5.2 Reasoning. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 1,000,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-5.2 Max wins 9, GPT-5.2 Reasoning wins 3, and 0 are tied. On the index average, GPT-5.2 Max leads GPT-5.2 Reasoning by 1.7 points (89.2 versus 87.5).
The price picture favours GPT-5.2 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-5.2 Max for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.
Choose GPT-5.2 Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 128,000-token output limit.
Choose GPT-5.2 Reasoning if
- You prefer OpenAI's tooling or already use it.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.2 Max better than GPT-5.2 Reasoning?
On the index average, GPT-5.2 Max leads GPT-5.2 Reasoning by 1.7 points (89.2 versus 87.5). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-5.2 Max wins 9 benchmarks, GPT-5.2 Reasoning wins 3.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.2 Max or GPT-5.2 Reasoning?
GPT-5.2 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $38.72 per million tokens, versus $41.43 for GPT-5.2 Reasoning.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 1,000,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-5.2 Max is proprietary; GPT-5.2 Reasoning 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 check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.