LLM·Dex
Newsletter

GPT-5 mini vs Llama 4 405B

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

GPT-5 mini specs · Llama 4 405B specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceGPT-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini publishes pricing ($2.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 4 405B does not.

  • Context windowGPT-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 256K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.

  • BenchmarksTie

    No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.

  • ModalitiesGPT-5 mini

    GPT-5 mini supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for Llama 4 405B.

  • OpennessLlama 4 405B

    Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License); GPT-5 mini is API-only.

On balance GPT-5 mini edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against Llama 4 405B's 1. GPT-5 mini publishes pricing ($2.00 / 1M output tokens) while Llama 4 405B does not. GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 256K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, GPT-5 mini handles text, vision, audio while Llama 4 405B handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License); GPT-5 mini is API-only.

GPT-5 mini is the newer of the two, released 4 months after Llama 4 405B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-5 mini is usually picked for code completion and customer support workloads, while Llama 4 405B sees more deployments in open source llm and fine tuning. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGPT-5 miniLlama 4 405B
ProviderOpenAIMeta
ReleasedAug 2025Apr 2025
Modalitiestext, vision, audiotext, vision
Context window400K tokens256K tokens
Max output128K tokens,
Input · 1M$0.25 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Output · 1M$2.00 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff2024-092024-12
Open weightsNoYes (Llama 4 Community License)
API availableYesYes

Pricing at scale

What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$3.75 vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$37.50 vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$49.50 vs ,

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • GPT-5 mini$0.125
  • Llama 4 405BPricing unavailable

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

Benchmark scores not yet available. We only publish numbers we can source from official model cards or independent leaderboards, see methodology.
Pick GPT-5 mini if

GPT-5 mini fits when…

  • Excellent price-quality ratio for production workloads
  • Fast first-token latency
  • Same tool-use API surface as flagship
  • Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 256K for Llama 4 405B.
  • Multimodal needs covering audio.
Pick Llama 4 405B if

Llama 4 405B fits when…

  • Strongest open-weight model at launch
  • Multimodal (text + vision)
  • Wide hosting availability
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Llama 4 Community License).
Don't want either?

Consider GPT-5.5

OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.

See GPT-5.5 specsGPT-5 mini vs GPT-5.5Llama 4 405B vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-5 mini or Llama 4 405B cheaper?
    Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    GPT-5 mini accepts 400K tokens vs 256K for Llama 4 405B.
  • Is GPT-5 mini or Llama 4 405B better for coding?
    Both GPT-5 mini and Llama 4 405B are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.
  • Are either of these models open source?
    Llama 4 405B ships open weights (Llama 4 Community License). GPT-5 mini is API-only.
  • When were GPT-5 mini and Llama 4 405B released?
    GPT-5 mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. Llama 4 405B was released by Meta on 2025-04-05.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.