---
title: "Is GPT-5.2 still undominated? · Undominated.ai"
canonical: https://undominated.ai/check/openai__gpt-5.2/
description: "GPT-5.2: 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-5.2 still undominated? · Undominated.ai

> GPT-5.2: 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-5.2 a good deal?

Whether anything in this catalogue beats GPT-5.2 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-5.2 is dominated for Balanced on LMArena. Muse Spark 1.3 scores 77.6 higher and costs 58% less, with a covering envelope. 12 of 145 rated, priced standard models are undominated.

[Inspect model evidence](/models/openai__gpt-5.2/) [Compare differences & requirements](/compare/?models=openai%2Fgpt-5.2%2Cmeta%2Fmuse-spark-1.3)

 Current model

GPT-5.2

 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)

Muse Spark 1.3 is both better and cheaper than GPT-5.2: 77.6 points higher on LMArena and 58% less per million tokens, $2.81 cheaper at this mix.

 [GPT-5.2](https://undominated.ai/models/openai__gpt-5.2/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1412.3

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$4.81/M

 [Muse Spark 1.3](https://undominated.ai/models/meta__muse-spark-1.3/)

LMArena Elo · higher is better

Scale starts at 1040 Elo

 **

1489.9

Effective $/M · Balanced · lower is better

 **

$2.00/M

GPT-5.2 takes file, image, text, 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: 11 models dominate it and give up nothing, 5 more dominate it but give something up. GPT-5.2 scores 1412.3 at $4.81 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Muse Spark 1.3](/models/meta__muse-spark-1.3/) | 1489.9 +77.6 | $2.00/M | 58% |
| [Muse Spark 1.2](/models/meta__muse-spark-1.2/) | 1483.2 +70.9 | $2.00/M | 58% |
| [Muse Spark 1.1](/models/meta__muse-spark-1.1/) | 1479.2 +66.9 | $2.00/M | 58% |
| [Claude Sonnet 5.5](/models/anthropic__claude-sonnet-5.5/) | 1466.6 +54.3 | $4.00/M | 17% |
| [Grok 4.5](/models/x-ai__grok-4.5/) | 1448.1 +35.8 | $3.00/M | 38% |
| [GPT-5.6 Terra](/models/openai__gpt-5.6-terra/) | 1446.3 +34.0 | $4.50/M | 6% |
| [GPT-6.1 Sol](/models/openai__gpt-6.1-sol/) | 1445.6 +33.3 | $4.00/M | 17% |
| [Claude Sonnet 5](/models/anthropic__claude-sonnet-5/) | 1442.9 +30.6 | $4.00/M | 17% |
| [GPT-5.6 Luna](/models/openai__gpt-5.6-luna/) | 1431.0 +18.7 | $0.450/M | 91% |
| [Grok 4.6](/models/x-ai__grok-4.6/) | 1427.4 +15.1 | $3.00/M | 38% |
| [GPT-5.1](/models/openai__gpt-5.1/) | 1422.2 +9.9 | $3.44/M | 29% |

## 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Gemini 3.8 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.8-flash/) | 1497.0 | $3.00/M | max output |
| [MiMo-V2.6-Pro](/models/xiaomi__mimo-v2.6-pro/) | 1491.0 | $0.540/M | file |
| [Gemini 3.7 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.7-flash/) | 1487.0 | $3.00/M | max output |
| [Gemini 3.1 Pro Preview](/models/google__gemini-3.1-pro-preview/) | 1480.2 | $4.50/M | max output |
| [Gemini 3.6 Flash](/models/google__gemini-3.6-flash/) | 1479.5 | $1.50/M | max output |

 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/)
