API cost decision in 10 seconds

gpt-oss-20b vs GLM 4 32B

Pick gpt-oss-20b when budget and context both matter.

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 when budget and context both matter.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-20b is estimated at $0.1 vs $0.15 for GLM 4 32B, saving $0.05 (33.3% lower).

Cost-first pickgpt-oss-20b

Context-first pickgpt-oss-20b

Sample savings$0.0533.3%

10x traffic gap$0.5

gpt-oss-20b is cheaper on the standard workload and also has the larger context window. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $0.5. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

Cost winner changes by workload shape: input-heavy / RAG favors gpt-oss-20b, balanced workload favors gpt-oss-20b, and output-heavy chatbot favors GLM 4 32B.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	gpt-oss-20b	GLM 4 32B
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	gpt-oss-20b	$0.22	$0.55
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	gpt-oss-20b	$0.17	$0.2
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	GLM 4 32B	$0.73	$0.6

Cheaper input gpt-oss-20b $0.03 vs $0.1 / 1M

gpt-oss-20b is $0.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (70% lower; 3.33x difference).

Cheaper output GLM 4 32B $0.14 vs $0.1 / 1M

GLM 4 32B is $0.04 cheaper per 1M output tokens (28.6% lower; 1.4x difference).

Larger context gpt-oss-20b 131.07K vs 128K

gpt-oss-20b has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).

Sample workload gpt-oss-20b $0.1 vs $0.15

gpt-oss-20b is $0.05 cheaper on the standard workload (33.3% 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

GLM 4 32B 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; GLM 4 32B has the lower output price; gpt-oss-20b 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 $0.15 for GLM 4 32B.

Best Fit

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

Choose GLM 4 32B when you care most about lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, gpt-oss-20b is estimated at $0.1 vs $0.15 for GLM 4 32B, saving $0.05 (33.3% lower).
gpt-oss-20b is $0.05 cheaper on the standard workload (33.3% lower).
gpt-oss-20b is $0.07 cheaper per 1M input tokens (70% lower; 3.33x difference).
GLM 4 32B is $0.04 cheaper per 1M output tokens (28.6% lower; 1.4x difference).
gpt-oss-20b has 3.07K more context (1.02x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	gpt-oss-20b (OpenAI)	GLM 4 32B (Z.ai)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.03	$0.1
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$0.14	$0.1
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$0.1	$0.15
Context Window	131.07K	128K
Release Date	2025-08-05	2025-07-24
Popularity	#67	#147

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 $0.15 for GLM 4 32B, saving $0.05 (33.3% 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	GLM 4 32B	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	gpt-oss-20b	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.
GLM 4.5 Air (free) can replace GLM 4 32B 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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OpenAI catalog

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Z.ai catalog

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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...

GLM 4 32B

GLM 4 32B is a cost-effective foundation language model. It can efficiently perform complex tasks and has significantly enhanced capabilities in tool use, online search, and code-related intelligent tasks. It...