--- title: "Is GPT-5 Mini still undominated? · Undominated.ai" canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/openai__gpt-5-mini/ description: "GPT-5 Mini: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Oct 6, 2026. Unrated stays unrated." --- # Is GPT-5 Mini still undominated? · Undominated.ai > GPT-5 Mini: whether it is still undominated. If anything in this catalogue is both better and cheaper, it is named, as of Oct 6, 2026. Unrated stays unrated. # Is GPT-5 Mini a good deal? Whether anything in this catalogue beats GPT-5 Mini on both quality and price, and what you give up if it does. A computation on the current catalogue, not an opinion. 12 undominated of 145 · Oct 6, 2026 [1 · Choose & set workload](#check-input)[2 · Read verdict](#check-verdict)[3 · Inspect alternatives](#check-options) As of Oct 6, 2026, GPT-5 Mini is dominated for Balanced on LMArena. GPT-5.6 Luna scores 57.8 higher and costs 35% less, with a covering envelope. 12 of 145 rated, priced standard models are undominated. [Inspect model evidence](/models/openai__gpt-5-mini/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=openai%2Fgpt-5-mini%2Copenai%2Fgpt-5.6-luna) Current model GPT-5 Mini Balanced 3 tokens in per 1 out Balanced Summarise Chat Code gen Agentic Monthly spend (USD) Used only to say how many months a named switching cost would take to earn back. Leave blank to skip. Switching cost (USD) GPT-5.6 Luna is both better and cheaper than GPT-5 Mini: 57.8 points higher on LMArena and 35% less per million tokens, $0.238 cheaper at this mix. [GPT-5 Mini](https://undominated.ai/models/openai__gpt-5-mini/) LMArena Elo · higher is better Scale starts at 1040 Elo ** 1373.2 Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better ** $0.688/M [GPT-5.6 Luna](https://undominated.ai/models/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/) LMArena Elo · higher is better Scale starts at 1040 Elo ** 1431.0 Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better ** $0.450/M GPT-5 Mini takes text, image, file, returns up to 128,000 tokens from a 400,000-token context, and is listed by 4 sellers. Compared against 145 rated, priced models on this lens: 2 models dominate it and give up nothing, 5 more dominate it but give something up. GPT-5 Mini scores 1373.2 at $0.688 per million tokens for this mix. ## Envelope-safe replacements Each row scores at least as high, costs no more, and covers this model’s context, output, modalities, tools, and reasoning. A cheaper narrower model is not listed here. | Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You save | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [GPT-5.6 Luna](/models/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/) | 1431.0 +57.8 | $0.450/M | 35% | | [GPT-6 Luna](/models/openai__gpt-6-luna/) | 1391.5 +18.3 | $0.200/M | 71% | ## Higher score, lower price, named losses Not a drop-in. The loss is why these are not a recommendation. | Model | LMArena | Effective $/M | You give up | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [MiMo-V2.6-Pro](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.6-pro/) | 1491.0 | $0.540/M | file | | [GLM 5.3 Flash](/models/z-ai__glm-5.3-flash/) | 1469.6 | $0.238/M | file | | [MiMo-V2.5-Pro](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.5-pro/) | 1465.0 | $0.544/M | image, file | | [DeepSeek V4.1 Flash](/models/deepseek__deepseek-v4.1-flash/) | 1462.5 | $0.182/M | file | | [MiMo-V2.6-Flash](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.6-flash/) | 1456.4 | $0.175/M | file | 145 rated, priced standard models. Chartreuse is the frontier. Cobalt is the model you named, when it is not on the staircase. Copy watch URL [Open the frontier](/frontier/) The link keeps the model and mix, using the current catalogue. Monthly spend and switching cost stay in this browser tab and are left out of the link. ## Saved decision references Save the model, workload, catalogue date and capability-preservation rule in this browser. Spend, switching cost and bill contents are not saved. No account or notifications. Constraint: replacements must preserve the model’s capabilities; any losses remain named trade-offs. Historical decisions cannot be fully replayed from saved references: past prices, scores and capability evidence are not stored. Save this reference ## Continue your investigation - [Build a shortlist](/compare/) - [Inspect alternatives](/alternatives/) - [Check billing conditions](/traps/) - [Read model evidence](/models/)