GPT-5.2 vs o4 Max: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-5.2 and o4 Max on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-5.2 has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-5.2 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-5.2
GPT-5.2 is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $19.71 per million input tokens and $85.71 per million output tokens, and averages 88.0 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.71 / 1M
- Output
- $85.71 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 88.0
- Open weights
- No
o4 Max
o4 Max is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 2,000,000-token context window, costs $19.51 per million input tokens and $93.98 per million output tokens, and averages 86.2 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $19.51 / 1M
- Output
- $93.98 / 1M
- Context
- 2,000,000
- Avg score
- 86.2
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-5.2 | o4 Max | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $19.71 | $19.51 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $85.71 | $93.98 | A |
| Context window | 2,000,000 | 2,000,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 16,384 | 65,536 | B |
| Average score | 88.0 | 86.2 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1478.0 | 1486.0 | B |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-5.2 wins 8, o4 Max wins 3, and 1 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-5.2 | o4 Max | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 89.9 | 86.3 | 3.6 | GPT-5.2 |
| GPQA Diamond | 84.9 | 80.1 | 4.8 | GPT-5.2 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 80.2 | 79.8 | 0.4 | GPT-5.2 |
| HumanEval | 91.0 | 94.6 | 3.6 | o4 Max |
| MATH-500 | 90.6 | 90.6 | 0.0 | Tie |
| AIME 2025 | 90.6 | 84.8 | 5.8 | GPT-5.2 |
| LiveCodeBench | 79.7 | 80.6 | 0.9 | o4 Max |
| IFEval | 93.6 | 91.1 | 2.5 | GPT-5.2 |
| TruthfulQA | 89.7 | 87.1 | 2.6 | GPT-5.2 |
| HellaSwag | 92.6 | 91.7 | 0.9 | GPT-5.2 |
| MMMU | 85.3 | 81.9 | 3.4 | GPT-5.2 |
| Arena Elo | 1478.0 | 1486.0 | 8.0 | o4 Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-5.2 costs about $36.21 per million tokens and o4 Max costs about $38.13. GPT-5.2 is roughly 5% cheaper than o4 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, GPT-5.2 wins 8, o4 Max wins 3, and 1 are tied. On the index average, GPT-5.2 leads o4 Max by 1.8 points (88.0 versus 86.2).
The price picture favours GPT-5.2. 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 for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.
Choose GPT-5.2 if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
Choose o4 Max if
- You need the larger 65,536-token output limit.
FAQ
Is GPT-5.2 better than o4 Max?
On the index average, GPT-5.2 leads o4 Max by 1.8 points (88.0 versus 86.2). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-5.2 wins 8 benchmarks, o4 Max wins 3.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.2 or o4 Max?
GPT-5.2 is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $36.21 per million tokens, versus $38.13 for o4 Max.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 2,000,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-5.2 is proprietary; o4 Max is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-5.2 for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.