GPT-5.2 Reasoning vs GPT-5.2 Turbo: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-5.2 Reasoning and GPT-5.2 Turbo on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-5.2 Reasoning has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-5.2 Turbo is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
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
GPT-5.2 Turbo
GPT-5.2 Turbo is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 1,000,000-token context window, costs $20.73 per million input tokens and $96.05 per million output tokens, and averages 87.4 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $20.73 / 1M
- Output
- $96.05 / 1M
- Context
- 1,000,000
- Avg score
- 87.4
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-5.2 Reasoning | GPT-5.2 Turbo | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $20.98 | $20.73 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $102.78 | $96.05 | B |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 1,000,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 65,536 | 8,192 | A |
| Average score | 87.5 | 87.4 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1500.4 | 1500.3 | A |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-5.2 Reasoning wins 6, GPT-5.2 Turbo wins 6, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 Reasoning | GPT-5.2 Turbo | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 87.0 | 87.3 | 0.3 | GPT-5.2 Turbo |
| GPQA Diamond | 87.0 | 84.0 | 3.0 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| SWE-bench Verified | 78.2 | 77.4 | 0.8 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| HumanEval | 92.4 | 93.2 | 0.8 | GPT-5.2 Turbo |
| MATH-500 | 91.4 | 92.7 | 1.3 | GPT-5.2 Turbo |
| AIME 2025 | 84.9 | 86.7 | 1.8 | GPT-5.2 Turbo |
| LiveCodeBench | 84.6 | 82.5 | 2.1 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| IFEval | 95.0 | 92.0 | 3.0 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| TruthfulQA | 88.2 | 87.3 | 0.9 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
| HellaSwag | 92.5 | 95.5 | 3.0 | GPT-5.2 Turbo |
| MMMU | 81.5 | 83.3 | 1.8 | GPT-5.2 Turbo |
| Arena Elo | 1500.4 | 1500.3 | 0.1 | GPT-5.2 Reasoning |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-5.2 Reasoning costs about $41.43 per million tokens and GPT-5.2 Turbo costs about $39.56. GPT-5.2 Turbo is roughly 5% 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 Reasoning wins 6, GPT-5.2 Turbo wins 6, and 0 are tied. On the index average, GPT-5.2 Reasoning leads GPT-5.2 Turbo by 0.1 points (87.5 versus 87.4).
The price picture favours GPT-5.2 Turbo. 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 Reasoning for quality-sensitive work and GPT-5.2 Turbo for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.
Choose GPT-5.2 Reasoning if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- You need the larger 65,536-token output limit.
Choose GPT-5.2 Turbo if
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.2 Reasoning better than GPT-5.2 Turbo?
On the index average, GPT-5.2 Reasoning leads GPT-5.2 Turbo by 0.1 points (87.5 versus 87.4). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-5.2 Reasoning wins 6 benchmarks, GPT-5.2 Turbo wins 6.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.2 Reasoning or GPT-5.2 Turbo?
GPT-5.2 Turbo is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $39.56 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 Reasoning is proprietary; GPT-5.2 Turbo is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.2 Reasoning for quality-sensitive work and GPT-5.2 Turbo for high-volume, well-scoped tasks. Run both on a sample of your own traffic before locking in a choice.