GPT-5 Mini vs Grok 4.20

Summary of our 12-test comparison (scores from our suite): - Wins: GPT-5 Mini wins safety calibration (3 vs 1). That translates to better refusal/allow behavior in our tests; GPT-5 Mini ranks 10 of 55 in safety calibration (tied with 1 other). - Wins: Grok 4.20 wins tool calling (5 vs 3). In practical terms Grok is superior at function selection, argument accuracy and sequencing; Grok ranks tied for 1st of 54 (16 models share top score) while GPT-5 Mini ranks 47 of 54 (6 models share that lower score). - Ties (10 tests): structured output (both 5, tied for 1st), strategic analysis (both 5, tied for 1st), constrained rewriting (4 each, rank 6 of 53), creative problem solving (4 each), faithfulness (5 each, tied for 1st), classification (4 each, tied for 1st), long context (5 each, tied for 1st), persona consistency (5 each, tied for 1st), agentic planning (4 each, rank 16 of 54), multilingual (5 each, tied for 1st). Practical implications: both models provide top-tier structured output, faithfulness, long-context handling, multilingual quality and persona consistency in our tests. Where they diverge matters: Grok’s tool calling advantage is decisive for agentic workflows (bots, multi-step tool orchestration). GPT-5 Mini’s safety edge matters for apps that must refuse risky prompts reliably. External benchmarks (Epoch AI): GPT-5 Mini scores 64.7% on SWE-bench Verified, 97.8% on MATH Level 5, and 86.7% on AIME 2025 — we cite these as supplementary data points (Epoch AI). Grok 4.20 has no external benchmark scores in the payload. Additional operational notes from the payload: GPT-5 Mini has a 400,000 token context window and uses reasoning tokens; Grok 4.20 has a larger 2,000,000 token context window. Both support text+image+file→text and similar supported parameters, but Grok lists more low-level sampling controls (top_p, top_logprobs).

Per-token costs from the payload (per MTOK = per 1,000 tokens): GPT-5 Mini input $0.25, output $2.00; Grok 4.20 input $2.00, output $6.00. Per 1M tokens (1,000 MTOK): GPT-5 Mini = $250 (input) or $2,000 (output). Grok 4.20 = $2,000 (input) or $6,000 (output). If you assume a 50/50 split of input/output tokens, cost per 1M tokens is $1,125 for GPT-5 Mini vs $4,000 for Grok 4.20. Scale that: 10M tokens/month → GPT-5 Mini ~$11,250 vs Grok ~$40,000 (50/50). At 100M tokens/month → GPT-5 Mini ~$112,500 vs Grok ~$400,000 (50/50). Who should care: any high-volume app or SaaS with millions of monthly tokens will see a material budget impact — GPT-5 Mini saves thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars at scale. Grok buyers accept that premium for stronger tool-calling and larger context (2,000,000 vs 400,000).

Choose GPT-5 Mini if: - You need the best price-to-performance for high-volume deployments (GPT-5 Mini input $0.25/MTOK, output $2/MTOK). - You prioritize safer refusal behavior (wins safety calibration in our tests) and strong math/external benchmark performance (MATH Level 5 97.8%, AIME 86.7%, SWE-bench 64.7% per Epoch AI). - You need top-ranked structured output, long-context, multilingual and faithfulness at lower cost. Choose Grok 4.20 if: - Your application depends on agentic tool calling (Grok wins tool calling 5 vs 3 and ranks tied for 1st). - You need the largest context window (2,000,000 tokens) or advanced sampling/logprob controls and are prepared to pay a premium (input $2/MTOK, output $6/MTOK).