API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview vs 🔥gpt-oss-120b

Pick gpt-oss-120b for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview only if the larger context window matters more.

Pricing data updated:  Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick gpt-oss-120b for lower cost; pick Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-120b is estimated at $0.13 vs $8 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, saving $7.87 (98.4% lower).

Cost-first pickgpt-oss-120b
Context-first pickGemini 3.1 Pro Preview
Sample savings$7.8798.4%
10x traffic gap$78.71

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has more context, but gpt-oss-120b saves $7.87 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $78.71. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

gpt-oss-120b stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shapeToken mixBetter pickGemini 3.1 Pro Previewgpt-oss-120b
Input-heavy / RAG5M input + 500K outputgpt-oss-120b$16$0.29
Balanced workload1M input + 1M outputgpt-oss-120b$14$0.22
Output-heavy chatbot1M input + 5M outputgpt-oss-120b$62$0.94
Cheaper input gpt-oss-120b $2 vs $0.039 / 1M

gpt-oss-120b is $1.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98% lower; 51.3x difference).

Cheaper output gpt-oss-120b $12 vs $0.18 / 1M

gpt-oss-120b is $11.82 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.5% lower; 66.7x difference).

Larger context Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview 1.05M vs 131.07K

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has 917.5K more context (8x larger).

Sample workload gpt-oss-120b $8 vs $0.13

gpt-oss-120b is $7.87 cheaper on the standard workload (98.4% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.
Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview Calculating… Estimated API cost
gpt-oss-120b Calculating… Estimated API cost
Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

gpt-oss-120b has the lower input price; gpt-oss-120b has the lower output price; Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, gpt-oss-120b is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $8 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview and $0.13 for gpt-oss-120b.

Best Fit

Choose Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when you care most about larger context window.

Choose gpt-oss-120b when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes
  • On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-120b is estimated at $0.13 vs $8 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, saving $7.87 (98.4% lower).
  • gpt-oss-120b is $7.87 cheaper on the standard workload (98.4% lower).
  • gpt-oss-120b is $1.96 cheaper per 1M input tokens (98% lower; 51.3x difference).
  • gpt-oss-120b is $11.82 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.5% lower; 66.7x difference).
  • Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview has 917.5K more context (8x larger).
Head-to-Head Specs
Feature🔥Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview
(Google)
🔥gpt-oss-120b
(OpenAI)
Input Price
prompt tokens per 1M
$2$0.039
Completion Price
per 1M tokens
$12$0.18
Sample Workload Cost
1M input + 500K output
$8$0.13
Context Window1.05M131.07K
Release Date
Popularity#13#18

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use caseBetter pickWhy
Budget-constrained productiongpt-oss-120bOn the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-120b is estimated at $0.13 vs $8 for Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview, saving $7.87 (98.4% lower).
High-volume input processinggpt-oss-120bLower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbotsgpt-oss-120bLower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document workGemini 3.1 Pro PreviewA larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps
  • Gemma 4 26B A4B (free) can replace Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Lyria 3 Pro Preview can replace Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
  • Lyria 3 Clip Preview can replace Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
Larger context near this budget
  • Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
  • Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
  • Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
  • GPT-5.4 offers 1.05M context with $10 sample workload cost.

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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Google catalog

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OpenAI catalog

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Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview

Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview is Google’s frontier reasoning model, delivering enhanced software engineering performance, improved agentic reliability, and more efficient token usage across complex workflows. Building on the multimodal foundation...

gpt-oss-120b

gpt-oss-120b is an open-weight, 117B-parameter Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) language model from OpenAI designed for high-reasoning, agentic, and general-purpose production use cases. It activates 5.1B parameters per forward pass and is optimized...