OpenAIGPT-5 miniVSOpenAIGPT-5.5
Our Take
We recommend GPT-5.5 if you need peak intelligence for reasoning and coding tasks, or the 16.4x cheaper GPT-5 mini to optimize your budget for high-volume pipelines. While GPT-5.5 holds a clear performance lead, it carries a heavy price premium. Choose GPT-5.5 for complex logic, or GPT-5 mini for budget efficiency.
▶WHY?
Benchmark Calculations & Evidence:
Coding Benchmarks: Both models were evaluated on the SWE-bench Pro benchmark. GPT-5.5 scored 58.6%, while GPT-5 mini scored 45.7%.
Reasoning Benchmarks: Both models were evaluated on the GPQA Diamond benchmark. GPT-5.5 scored 93.6%, while GPT-5 mini scored 81.6%.
Cost Efficiency: GPT-5 mini pricing ($0.25/M input, $2/M output) is 16.4x cheaper than GPT-5.5 ($5/M input, $30/M output).
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Benchmarks & Scores
Coding (swe-bench-pro)
45.7%complex codebases, multi-file repositories, and architectural planning
Reasoning (gpqa-diamond)
81.6%graduate-level science QA
Cost & Context
Cost (per 1M tokens)16.4x cheaper
$0.69Input: $0.25 | Output: $2.00Context Window
400k tokensBenchmarks & Scores
Coding (swe-bench-pro)Winner (+12.9%)
58.6%complex codebases, multi-file repositories, and architectural planning
Reasoning (gpqa-diamond)Winner (+12.0%)
93.6%graduate-level science QA
Cost & Context
Cost (per 1M tokens)
$11.25Input: $5.00 | Output: $30.00Context WindowLarger
1.05M tokensFrequently Asked Questions about GPT-5 mini vs GPT-5.5
GPT-5 mini is cheaper than GPT-5.5. GPT-5 mini has a blended cost of $0.69/1M tokens, which is about 16.4x cheaper than GPT-5.5 at $11.25/1M tokens.
GPT-5.5 is better for coding tasks on this benchmark. It scores 58.6% on swe-bench-pro (complex codebases, multi-file repositories, and architectural planning) compared to GPT-5 mini which scores 45.7%.
Related Matchups
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