GPT-4o Mini is OpenAI's cheapest model at $0.15/1M input tokens — 99% less than the flagship GPT-5.2. For the best capability per dollar, GPT-5.6 Luna is the smarter budget pick.
The shortest way to see the safest default, the lower-cost option, and the specialist pick before you read deeper.
GPT-5.6 Luna is the safest overall answer here when you want the strongest default instead of the lowest list price.
Mistral: Mistral Nemo is the lower-cost option to start with when you still need useful output at scale.
GPT-4o Mini is the better pick when response speed matters more than maximum reasoning depth.
GPT-4o Mini is the lowest-cost OpenAI model: $0.15/1M input, $0.6/1M output.
GPT-4o Mini is the best capability-per-dollar pick (budget score 93/100).
GPT-5.2 costs 80x more on input — reserve it for work where quality is the bottleneck.
Choose GPT-4o Mini for high-volume, low-stakes tasks like classification, extraction, and drafts.
Choose GPT-4o Mini as the everyday default if you want one budget model.
Route only the hardest tasks to GPT-5.2 — a two-tier setup usually cuts spend 60–80%.
Switch the scoring lens to see whether the top answer changes when you care more about cost, speed, or long-document work.
OpenAI / Premium / Aug 8, 2026
Best OpenAI flagship for agentic coding, research, and computer-use work.
Ranks models by the broadest mix of coding, writing, research, and long-context usefulness.
You only care about the highest public coding benchmark score or need a cheaper high-volume model.
The fastest way to see where the recommendation shifts when your priority changes.
OpenAI's fastest, cheapest option for everyday high-volume tasks.
Solid OpenAI budget option, though Gemini Flash offers better value.
Best for agentic automation and desktop control workflows.
Best OpenAI flagship for agentic coding, research, and computer-use work.
Best all-around pick for image-heavy and multimodal workflows.
Capable but outclassed — GPT-5.4 is now cheaper and better.
Punches far above its price: GPQA Diamond 92.3%, SWE-bench Pro 62.7%, Terminal-Bench 2.1 84.7%
$0.20/$1.20 per 1M after the July 30, 2026 price cut — dramatically cheaper per token than Gemini 3.6 Flash
Full 1.05M-token context at budget pricing — larger than most rival small models
Long-context recall collapses at scale: 41.3% on 512K–1M token tasks vs Terra's 72.5%
Text and image input only — no video, audio, or native PDF ingestion like Gemini 3.6 Flash
UseRightAI recommendations are based on practical decision factors people actually feel in day-to-day use.
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GPT-4o Mini at $0.15/1M input and $0.6/1M output tokens. OpenAI's fastest, cheapest option for everyday high-volume tasks.
GPT-5.6 Luna is the best capability-per-dollar pick in OpenAI's lineup (budget score 95/100). It handles cheap high-throughput summarization well — step up to GPT-5.2 only where quality visibly falls short.
GPT-4o Mini costs $0.15/1M input vs $12/1M for GPT-5.2 — a 99% saving on input tokens.
GPT-5.6 Luna — 1.05M tokens at $0.2/1M input.