OpenAI's most capable eye for visuals, but you'll pay a premium over equally capable rivals.
72
Coding
74
Writing
82
Research
93
Images
28
Value
85
Long Context
Use this when
Complex workflows combining visual analysis, image generation, and long-document understanding in a single model call.
Skip this if
You need fast, high-volume image processing or your use case doesn't involve visual data — cheaper text-only GPT-5 variants will serve you better.
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$10.00/1M out
→0%since May 2026
Context
400k tokens
Speed
Balanced
Flat $10/1M input and output pricing is unusual — most flagship models charge more for output tokens. Verify whether image token costs (typically higher per effective token) are included under this pricing or billed separately, as OpenAI historically charges additional fees for image inputs.
The flagship of OpenAI's GPT-5.6 family — its most capable reasoning and agentic-coding model, with an 'ultra' mode that spawns sub-agents for long autonomous workflows.
Verdict
Best OpenAI flagship — leads terminal coding and agentic browsing.
Quality score
96%
Pricing
$2.50/1M in
$15.00/1M out
Speed
Deliberate
Best for frontier agentic coding, deep research, and hardest reasoning tasks
Context
1.1M tokens
First frontier model family to clear a customer-by-customer US government review: limited preview June 26, full public release July 9, 2026. Pricing $5/$30 ($10/$45 above 272K context). Knowledge cutoff Feb 16, 2026.
AgenticReasoningFlagshipSub-agentsPremium
Best for
Frontier agentic coding, deep research, and hardest reasoning tasks
GPT-5 is OpenAI's flagship multimodal model, superseding GPT-4o with significantly improved reasoning, instruction-following, and knowledge breadth. It handles text, images, and complex multi-step tasks with state-of-the-art performance across most benchmarks.
Verdict
OpenAI's best general-purpose model — a strong flagship pick that punches above its price on input costs while delivering top-tier reasoning and multimodal capability.
Quality score
87%
Pricing
$2.50/1M in
$15.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
Best for high-stakes professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, precise instruction-following, and reliable multimodal understanding.
Context
400k tokens
Pricing is asymmetric: cheap on input ($1.25/1M) but expensive on output ($10/1M), so it favors read-heavy or summarization tasks over verbose generation. The 400K context window is one of the largest available at this price tier. Supersedes GPT-4o, which remains available at lower cost for lighter workloads.
FlagshipMultimodalLong ContextOpenAIReasoning
Best for
High-stakes professional tasks requiring deep reasoning, precise instruction-following, and reliable multimodal understanding.
GPT-5 Image Mini is OpenAI's mid-tier multimodal model optimized for image understanding and generation tasks at a balanced price point. It supersedes GPT-4o with improved visual reasoning capabilities while maintaining a large 400K context window.
Verdict
A capable multimodal workhorse for image-heavy workflows that don't justify full GPT-5 flagship pricing.
Quality score
72%
Pricing
$2.50/1M in
$2.00/1M out
Speed
Fast
Best for teams needing strong image analysis and generation integrated with text workflows at a reasonable cost.
Context
400k tokens
Output cost of $2/1M tokens is unusual — lower than input cost, which favors use cases with long inputs but short outputs like image captioning or document summarization. Verify image generation token pricing separately, as image outputs are often billed differently by OpenAI.
MultimodalImage GenerationLong ContextBalanced PriceGPT-5 Family
Best for
Teams needing strong image analysis and generation integrated with text workflows at a reasonable cost.
Pricing moves, ranking shifts, and capability updates.
New ModelMar 27, 2026
OpenAI: GPT-5 Image — added to UseRightAI
OpenAI: GPT-5 Image (OpenAI) is now indexed. It supersedes GPT-4o. OpenAI's most capable eye for visuals, but you'll pay a premium over equally capable rivals.
OpenAI: GPT-5 Image is best for complex workflows combining visual analysis, image generation, and long-document understanding in a single model call.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around premium pricing and balanced speed.
When should I avoid OpenAI: GPT-5 Image?
You need fast, high-volume image processing or your use case doesn't involve visual data — cheaper text-only GPT-5 variants will serve you better.
What is a cheaper alternative to OpenAI: GPT-5 Image?
Google: Nano Banana (Gemini 2.5 Flash Image) is the lower-cost option to compare first when you want a similar workflow fit with less token spend.
What is a faster alternative to OpenAI: GPT-5 Image?
OpenAI: GPT-5 Image Mini is the better pick when response time matters more than maximum depth or premium quality.
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