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Gemini 2.5 Flash vs GPT-5 Mini

Complete pricing and performance comparison between Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash and OpenAI's GPT-5 Mini.

Quick Verdict

Cheaper
GPT-5 Mini
1.2x cheaper input, 1.3x cheaper output
Larger Context
Gemini 2.5 Flash
1.0M vs 400K
Higher Quality
GPT-5 Mini
Score: 41 vs 21
Faster
Gemini 2.5 Flash
231 vs 97 tok/s

Pricing Comparison

SpecGemini 2.5 FlashGPT-5 MiniDifference
ProviderGoogleOpenAI
Input / 1M tokens$0.3$0.25GPT-5 Mini is 17% more expensive
Output / 1M tokens$2.5$2GPT-5 Mini is 20% more expensive
Context Window1.0M400K3x difference
Max Output66K16K
Tokenizercl100k_baseo200k_base

Performance Benchmarks

MetricGemini 2.5 FlashGPT-5 MiniWinner
Quality Index2141GPT-5 Mini
Output Speed231 tok/s97 tok/sGemini 2.5 Flash
Time to First Token0.42s79.46sGemini 2.5 Flash
Value (Quality/$)68.7164.8Higher = better value

Benchmark data from Artificial Analysis. Quality Index is a composite score across reasoning, coding, and knowledge tasks.

Cost at Scale

Estimated cost at different usage levels (3:1 input-to-output token ratio, typical for chat).

UsageGemini 2.5 FlashGPT-5 MiniSavings
Single request
1K in / 300 out
$0.0010$0.0008Same
10 requests
10K in / 3K out
$0.010$0.0085GPT-5 Mini saves $0.0020
100 requests
100K in / 30K out
$0.105$0.085GPT-5 Mini saves $0.020
1,000 requests
1M in / 300K out
$1.05$0.850GPT-5 Mini saves $0.200
10,000 requests
10M in / 3M out
$10.50$8.50GPT-5 Mini saves $2.00
1M requests/mo
1B in / 300M out
$1050.00$850.00GPT-5 Mini saves $200.00

Pros & Cons

Gemini 2.5 Flash Strengths

  • +Larger context window (1.0M vs 400K)
  • +Higher max output tokens
  • +Faster output (231 vs 97 tok/s)
  • +Lower latency (faster first token)

GPT-5 Mini Strengths

  • +Cheaper input tokens
  • +Cheaper output tokens
  • +Higher quality score (41 vs 21)

When to Use Each Model

Choose Gemini 2.5 Flash for

  • Long documents, large codebases, or multi-turn conversations
  • Generating long-form content or detailed code
  • Real-time applications, chat, or autocomplete

Choose GPT-5 Mini for

  • Budget-conscious projects where cost is the primary factor
  • Tasks requiring maximum accuracy and reasoning

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Flash or GPT-5 Mini?
For input tokens, GPT-5 Mini is 1.2x cheaper at $0.25/1M tokens. For output tokens, GPT-5 Mini is 1.3x cheaper at $2/1M tokens. At typical usage (1M input + 300K output), Gemini 2.5 Flash costs $1.05 vs GPT-5 Mini at $0.850.
What's the context window difference?
Gemini 2.5 Flash supports 1.0M context (1,048,576 tokens), while GPT-5 Mini supports 400K (400,000 tokens). Gemini 2.5 Flash can handle 3x more context in a single request.
Which model has better benchmarks?
Quality Index: Gemini 2.5 Flash scores 21 vs GPT-5 Mini at 41. Speed: Gemini 2.5 Flash generates 231 tok/s vs GPT-5 Mini at 97 tok/s. Time to first token: Gemini 2.5 Flash at 0.42s vs GPT-5 Mini at 79.46s.
When should I choose Gemini 2.5 Flash over GPT-5 Mini?
Choose Gemini 2.5 Flash when you need: Larger context window (1.0M vs 400K), Higher max output tokens, Faster output (231 vs 97 tok/s), Lower latency (faster first token). Choose GPT-5 Mini when you need: Cheaper input tokens, Cheaper output tokens, Higher quality score (41 vs 21).
How much would 10,000 API requests cost?
At 1K input + 300 output tokens per request (typical chat): Gemini 2.5 Flash = $10.50, GPT-5 Mini = $8.50. At 10K input + 1K output per request (longer conversations): Gemini 2.5 Flash = $55.00, GPT-5 Mini = $45.00.

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