Gemini 3.1 Pro vs GPT-5 Mini: pricing & cost comparison
On input tokens, GPT-5 Mini is the cheaper of the two — 88% less per million ($2 vs $0.25). On output, GPT-5 Mini is 83% cheaper ($12 vs $2) — and since output is usually the dominant cost driver, that gap matters more than it looks.
Side by side
| Gemini 3.1 Pro | GPT-5 Mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Input / 1M tokens | $2 | $0.25 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $12 | $2 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 | 400,000 |
| Token-count accuracy | ±3% | exact |
| Cost — 10,000 input + 2,000 output tokens | $0.044 | $0.0065 |
What a real request costs
Take a representative turn — 10,000 input + 2,000 output tokens. Gemini 3.1 Pro comes to $0.044, GPT-5 Mini to $0.0065. Across 100,000 requests that's a $3750 swing in favour of GPT-5 Mini. To run the numbers on your actual prompt, paste it into the calculator and toggle Compare across all models.
Different leagues
These two sit in different price tiers — Gemini 3.1 Pro runs roughly 7× the per-request cost of GPT-5 Mini on the worked example — so they rarely compete for the same job. Reach for GPT-5 Mini on high-volume, latency-sensitive work (classification, extraction, routing) and Gemini 3.1 Pro only where the harder reasoning earns its price. They're different vendors, so expect a different API and tokenizer: the OpenAI side counts exactly; the other lands within a few percent — budget a small calibration buffer when you switch.
See the full breakdown on the dedicated pages for Gemini 3.1 Pro and GPT-5 Mini.
FAQ
- Is Gemini 3.1 Pro or GPT-5 Mini cheaper?
- For a typical request (10,000 input + 2,000 output tokens), GPT-5 Mini is cheaper — about 85% less, or roughly $3750 saved per 100,000 requests. Gemini 3.1 Pro runs $2/$12 per 1M input/output tokens; GPT-5 Mini runs $0.25/$2.
- Which has the larger context window?
- Gemini 3.1 Pro, at 1,000,000 tokens versus 400,000.
- How accurate are these token counts?
- Gemini 3.1 Pro: Approximated with o200k_base; drift typically ~3% on English and code. GPT-5 Mini: Exact tokenization via the canonical OpenAI vocab (o200k_base). The dollar math itself is exact once the token count is known.
Both prices are computed from tokenmath's verified pricing table. Rates sourced from ai.google.dev and openai.com, verified 2026-07-06. Vendor pricing changes often — confirm before you commit.