Llama Guard 4 12B is $1.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85.6% lower; 6.94x difference).
API cost decision in 10 seconds
GPT-5 vs Llama Guard 4 12B
Pick Llama Guard 4 12B for lower cost; pick GPT-5 only if the larger context window matters more.
Page updated:
Data confirmed:
Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens
Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output
Budget verdict
Pick Llama Guard 4 12B for lower cost; pick GPT-5 only if the larger context window matters more.
On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Llama Guard 4 12B is estimated at $0.27 vs $6.25 for GPT-5, saving $5.98 (95.7% lower).
Cost-first pickLlama Guard 4 12B
Context-first pickGPT-5
Sample savings$5.9895.7%
10x traffic gap$59.8
GPT-5 has more context, but Llama Guard 4 12B saves $5.98 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $59.8. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.
Cost sensitivity
Workload Sensitivity
Llama Guard 4 12B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.
| Workload shape | Token mix | Better pick | GPT-5 | Llama Guard 4 12B |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Input-heavy / RAG | 5M input + 500K output | Llama Guard 4 12B | $11.25 | $0.99 |
| Balanced workload | 1M input + 1M output | Llama Guard 4 12B | $11.25 | $0.36 |
| Output-heavy chatbot | 1M input + 5M output | Llama Guard 4 12B | $51.25 | $1.08 |
Llama Guard 4 12B is $9.82 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.2% lower; 55.6x difference).
GPT-5 has 236.16K more context (2.44x larger).
Llama Guard 4 12B is $5.98 cheaper on the standard workload (95.7% lower).
Estimate your workload cost
Your Workload Cost
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
Llama Guard 4 12B has the lower input price; Llama Guard 4 12B has the lower output price; GPT-5 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper for the standard workload.
For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $6.25 for GPT-5 and $0.27 for Llama Guard 4 12B.
Choose GPT-5 when you care most about larger context window.
Choose Llama Guard 4 12B when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.
- On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Llama Guard 4 12B is estimated at $0.27 vs $6.25 for GPT-5, saving $5.98 (95.7% lower).
- Llama Guard 4 12B is $5.98 cheaper on the standard workload (95.7% lower).
- Llama Guard 4 12B is $1.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (85.6% lower; 6.94x difference).
- Llama Guard 4 12B is $9.82 cheaper per 1M output tokens (98.2% lower; 55.6x difference).
- GPT-5 has 236.16K more context (2.44x larger).
| Feature | GPT-5 (OpenAI) | Llama Guard 4 12B (Meta) |
|---|---|---|
| Input Price prompt tokens per 1M | $1.25 | $0.18 |
| Completion Price per 1M tokens | $10 | $0.18 |
| Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output | $6.25 | $0.27 |
| Context Window | 400K | 163.84K |
| Release Date | ||
| Popularity | #47 | #146 |
Use-Case Decision Matrix
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Budget-constrained production | Llama Guard 4 12B | On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Llama Guard 4 12B is estimated at $0.27 vs $6.25 for GPT-5, saving $5.98 (95.7% lower). |
| High-volume input processing | Llama Guard 4 12B | Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill. |
| Long responses and chatbots | Llama Guard 4 12B | Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens. |
| RAG or long-document work | GPT-5 | A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files. |
Related Alternatives
- gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
- gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
- gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.13.
- Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
- Grok 4.20 Multi-Agent offers 2M context with $5 sample workload cost.
- Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
- Hy3 preview · Tencent · #1
- MiMo-V2.5 · Xiaomi · #2
- DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #3
- Owl Alpha · OpenRouter · #4
Cheaper alternatives
Review low-cost models sorted by a standard 1M input plus 500K output workload.
Open cheapest modelsLarger context alternatives
Find models with larger context windows for RAG, long documents, and codebase review.
Open largest context modelsProvider catalogs
Compare models within provider hubs before choosing a final API vendor.
Open provider hubsOpenAI catalog
Review all tracked OpenAI models before deciding whether this matchup is the right shortlist.
Open OpenAI modelsMeta catalog
Check other Meta models with comparable pricing, context, or release timing.
Open Meta modelsGPT-5 is OpenAI’s most advanced model, offering major improvements in reasoning, code quality, and user experience. It is optimized for complex tasks that require step-by-step reasoning, instruction following, and accuracy...
Llama Guard 4 is a Llama 4 Scout-derived multimodal pretrained model, fine-tuned for content safety classification. Similar to previous versions, it can be used to classify content in both LLM...