API cost decision in 10 seconds

🔥gpt-oss-120b vs Gemma 3 12B

Pick Gemma 3 12B when budget is the priority.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T19:08:13Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick Gemma 3 12B when budget is the priority.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 3 12B is estimated at $0.11 vs $0.13 for gpt-oss-120b, saving $0.02 (18.6% lower).

Cost-first pickGemma 3 12B

Context-first pickBoth models

Sample savings$0.0218.6%

10x traffic gap$0.24

The reported context window is tied, so cost and provider fit carry more weight. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.24. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Gemma 3 12B stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	gpt-oss-120b	Gemma 3 12B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	Gemma 3 12B	$0.29	$0.27
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	Gemma 3 12B	$0.22	$0.17
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	Gemma 3 12B	$0.94	$0.69

Cheaper input gpt-oss-120b $0.039 vs $0.04 / 1M

gpt-oss-120b is $0.001 cheaper per 1M input tokens (2.5% lower; 1.03x difference).

Cheaper output Gemma 3 12B $0.18 vs $0.13 / 1M

Gemma 3 12B is $0.05 cheaper per 1M output tokens (27.8% lower; 1.38x difference).

Larger context Tie 131.07K vs 131.07K

Both models report the same context window at 131.07K tokens.

Sample workload Gemma 3 12B $0.13 vs $0.11

Gemma 3 12B is $0.02 cheaper on the standard workload (18.6% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

gpt-oss-120b Calculating… Estimated API cost

Gemma 3 12B 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; Gemma 3 12B has the lower output price; both models report the same context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, Gemma 3 12B is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.13 for gpt-oss-120b and $0.11 for Gemma 3 12B.

Best Fit

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

Choose Gemma 3 12B when you care most about lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 3 12B is estimated at $0.11 vs $0.13 for gpt-oss-120b, saving $0.02 (18.6% lower).
Gemma 3 12B is $0.02 cheaper on the standard workload (18.6% lower).
gpt-oss-120b is $0.001 cheaper per 1M input tokens (2.5% lower; 1.03x difference).
Gemma 3 12B is $0.05 cheaper per 1M output tokens (27.8% lower; 1.38x difference).
Both models report the same context window at 131.07K tokens.

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	🔥gpt-oss-120b (OpenAI)	Gemma 3 12B (Google)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.039	$0.04
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.18	$0.13
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.13	$0.11
Context Window	131.07K	131.07K
Release Date	2025-08-05	2025-03-13
Popularity	#20	#123

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	Gemma 3 12B	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, Gemma 3 12B is estimated at $0.11 vs $0.13 for gpt-oss-120b, saving $0.02 (18.6% lower).
High-volume input processing	gpt-oss-120b	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	Gemma 3 12B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	Tie	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace gpt-oss-120b when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace gpt-oss-120b when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b can replace gpt-oss-120b when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
Gemma 4 31B (free) can replace Gemma 3 12B when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.

Larger context near this budget

Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
Lyria 3 Clip Preview offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
Lyria 3 Pro Preview offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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OpenAI catalog

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Google catalog

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Open Google models

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...

Gemma 3 12B

Gemma 3 introduces multimodality, supporting vision-language input and text outputs. It handles context windows up to 128k tokens, understands over 140 languages, and offers improved math, reasoning, and chat capabilities,...