--- title: "Is GPT-5 Nano still undominated? · Undominated.ai" canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/openai__gpt-5-nano/ description: "GPT-5 Nano: 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 Nano still undominated? · Undominated.ai > GPT-5 Nano: 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 Nano a good deal? Whether anything in this catalogue beats GPT-5 Nano 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, Gemma 4 26B A4B scores higher and costs less than GPT-5 Nano for Balanced on LMArena, but it is not a drop-in. You would give up: context, file. [Inspect model evidence](/models/openai__gpt-5-nano/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=openai%2Fgpt-5-nano%2Cgoogle%2Fgemma-4-26b-a4b-it) Current model GPT-5 Nano 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) Gemma 4 26B A4B scores 113.9 points higher and costs 8% less, but you would give up: context, file. [GPT-5 Nano](https://undominated.ai/models/openai__gpt-5-nano/) LMArena Elo · higher is better Scale starts at 1040 Elo ** 1320.0 Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better ** $0.138/M [Gemma 4 26B A4B](https://undominated.ai/models/google__gemma-4-26b-a4b-it/) LMArena Elo · higher is better Scale starts at 1040 Elo ** 1433.9 Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better ** $0.127/M GPT-5 Nano 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: nothing dominates it outright, 5 more dominate it but give something up. GPT-5 Nano scores 1320 at $0.138 per million tokens for this mix. ## 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 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | [Gemma 4 26B A4B](/models/google__gemma-4-26b-a4b-it/) | 1433.9 | $0.127/M | context, file | | [DeepSeek V4 Flash 0423](/models/deepseek__deepseek-v4-flash/) | 1432.1 | $0.113/M | image, file | | [Qwen3.5-Flash](/models/qwen__qwen3.5-flash-02-23/) | 1397.0 | $0.114/M | max output, file | | [gpt-oss-120b](/models/openai__gpt-oss-120b/) | 1365.4 | $0.065/M | context, max output, image, file | | [Gemma 3 27B](/models/google__gemma-3-27b-it/) | 1357.8 | $0.100/M | context, max output, file, reasoning | 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/)