API cost decision in 10 seconds

gpt-oss-20b vs R1 0528

Pick gpt-oss-20b for lower cost; pick R1 0528 only if the larger context window matters more.

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 gpt-oss-20b for lower cost; pick R1 0528 only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-20b is estimated at $0.1 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $1.47 (93.7% lower).

Cost-first pickgpt-oss-20b

Context-first pickR1 0528

Sample savings$1.4793.7%

10x traffic gap$14.75

R1 0528 has more context, but gpt-oss-20b saves $1.47 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $14.75. 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-20b stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	gpt-oss-20b	R1 0528
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	gpt-oss-20b	$0.22	$3.58
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	gpt-oss-20b	$0.17	$2.65
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	gpt-oss-20b	$0.73	$11.25

Cheaper input gpt-oss-20b $0.03 vs $0.5 / 1M

gpt-oss-20b is $0.47 cheaper per 1M input tokens (94% lower; 16.7x difference).

Cheaper output gpt-oss-20b $0.14 vs $2.15 / 1M

gpt-oss-20b is $2.01 cheaper per 1M output tokens (93.5% lower; 15.4x difference).

Larger context R1 0528 131.07K vs 163.84K

R1 0528 has 32.77K more context (1.25x larger).

Sample workload gpt-oss-20b $0.1 vs $1.57

gpt-oss-20b is $1.47 cheaper on the standard workload (93.7% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

gpt-oss-20b Calculating… Estimated API cost

R1 0528 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-20b has the lower input price; gpt-oss-20b has the lower output price; R1 0528 offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, gpt-oss-20b is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $0.1 for gpt-oss-20b and $1.57 for R1 0528.

Best Fit

Choose gpt-oss-20b when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Choose R1 0528 when you care most about larger context window.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-20b is estimated at $0.1 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $1.47 (93.7% lower).
gpt-oss-20b is $1.47 cheaper on the standard workload (93.7% lower).
gpt-oss-20b is $0.47 cheaper per 1M input tokens (94% lower; 16.7x difference).
gpt-oss-20b is $2.01 cheaper per 1M output tokens (93.5% lower; 15.4x difference).
R1 0528 has 32.77K more context (1.25x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	gpt-oss-20b (OpenAI)	R1 0528 (DeepSeek)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.03	$0.5
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.14	$2.15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.1	$1.57
Context Window	131.07K	163.84K
Release Date	2025-08-05	2025-05-28
Popularity	#67	#106

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	gpt-oss-20b	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-20b is estimated at $0.1 vs $1.57 for R1 0528, saving $1.47 (93.7% lower).
High-volume input processing	gpt-oss-20b	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	gpt-oss-20b	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	R1 0528	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-20b when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace gpt-oss-20b when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
DeepSeek V4 Flash (free) can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
DeepSeek V4 Flash can replace R1 0528 when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.2.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Pro offers 1.05M context with $0.87 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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DeepSeek catalog

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Open DeepSeek models

gpt-oss-20b

gpt-oss-20b is an open-weight 21B parameter model released by OpenAI under the Apache 2.0 license. It uses a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture with 3.6B active parameters per forward pass, optimized for...

R1 0528

May 28th update to the [original DeepSeek R1](/deepseek/deepseek-r1) Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active...