Choose OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) if…
- cost matters at scale — it is 87% cheaper on a typical 3:1 input/output mix ($4.04 vs $32.50 a month for 50,000 support chats)
OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) vs xAI: Grok 3 Mini
Neither wins outright: OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) is the pick when cost matters at scale, xAI: Grok 3 Mini when you need built-in web search.
Key numbers
| Spec | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) | xAI: Grok 3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | X Ai |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $0.02 | $0.30 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $0.11 | $0.50 |
| Blended price (3:1 input/output) | $0.05 | $0.35 |
| Cheaper than … of all models we track | 87% | 61% |
| Context window | 131K tokens (~197 pages) | 131K tokens (~197 pages) |
| Larger context than … of all models | 23% | 23% |
| Max output per response | 118K tokens (~88,500 words) | n/a |
| Input types | text | text |
| Output types | text | text |
| Free variant | No | No |
| Listed since | 2025-08-05 | 2025-06-10 |
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What it costs for real workloads
Monthly cost at list price for five common workloads. Token counts per unit are stated so you can scale them to your own traffic. A workload that does not fit a model's context window is marked rather than priced.
| Workload (per month) | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) | xAI: Grok 3 Mini | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer-support chatbot 50,000 conversations — each a 6-turn conversation (1,500 in / 400 out tokens) | $4.04 | $32.50 | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) saves $28.46 |
| RAG search over documents 20,000 questions — each a question answered from ~8 retrieved passages (6,000 in / 500 out tokens) | $4.00 | $41.00 | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) saves $37.00 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 2,000 tasks — each a multi-step task with tool calls and file context (60,000 in / 6,000 out tokens) | $4.22 | $42.00 | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) saves $37.78 |
| Batch summarisation 10,000 documents — each a 6,000-word report summarised to a page (8,000 in / 600 out tokens) | $2.59 | $27.00 | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) saves $24.41 |
| Long-document analysis 500 documents — each a 150-page contract or codebase read in one pass (100,000 in / 2,000 out tokens) | $1.31 | $15.50 | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) saves $14.19 |
Capabilities side by side
| Capability | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) | xAI: Grok 3 Mini | What it lets you do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tool / function calling | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | call your APIs and run agent loops |
| Structured output (JSON schema) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | return JSON that validates against your schema |
| Reasoning / thinking mode | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | spend extra tokens thinking before answering hard problems |
| Image input | — | — | read screenshots, charts and scanned pages |
| Audio input | — | — | take speech or audio directly |
| File / PDF input | — | — | accept documents without your own parsing step |
| Image output | — | — | generate images, not just text |
| Built-in web search | — | ✓ Yes | answer from live web results |
| Seed (reproducible sampling) | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes | repeat a generation for tests and evals |
| Log-probabilities | — | ✓ Yes | read token confidence for classification and scoring |
From each model's published parameters and input/output types. “—” means not advertised, not proven absent.
Price history
- OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch): input price cut 52% ($0.05 → $0.02/1M), output price cut 44% ($0.20 → $0.11/1M) on 2026-09-23.
- xAI: Grok 3 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-03-10.
| Date | Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) | $0.02 | $0.11 |
Which should you choose?
Choose xAI: Grok 3 Mini if…
- you need built-in web search — to answer from live web results; OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) does not advertise it
- you need log-probabilities — to read token confidence for classification and scoring; OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) does not advertise it
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) better than xAI: Grok 3 Mini?
Neither wins outright: OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) is the pick when cost matters at scale, xAI: Grok 3 Mini when you need built-in web search. In short: OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) when cost matters at scale; xAI: Grok 3 Mini when you need built-in web search, you need log-probabilities.
Which is cheaper, OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) or xAI: Grok 3 Mini?
OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) is cheaper: $0.05 vs $0.35 per 1M tokens at a typical 3:1 input/output mix, 87% less. For 50,000 support conversations a month that is $4.04 against $32.50.
How much do OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) and xAI: Grok 3 Mini cost per million tokens?
OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) costs $0.02 per 1M input tokens and $0.11 per 1M output tokens; xAI: Grok 3 Mini costs $0.30 input and $0.50 output. Output tokens are billed separately, so long answers shift the gap.
Which has the bigger context window, OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) or xAI: Grok 3 Mini?
Both take 131K tokens per request — roughly 197 pages of text.
Do OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) and xAI: Grok 3 Mini support function calling and JSON output?
Tool calling — OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch): yes, xAI: Grok 3 Mini: yes. JSON-schema structured output — OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch): yes, xAI: Grok 3 Mini: yes.
Can OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) or xAI: Grok 3 Mini read images?
Neither accepts image input — both are text-in models.
Is OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) or xAI: Grok 3 Mini free to use?
No free variant is listed for either; both are pay-per-token.
When were OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) and xAI: Grok 3 Mini released?
OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) was listed on 2025-08-05; xAI: Grok 3 Mini on 2025-06-10.
Has the price of OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) or xAI: Grok 3 Mini changed?
OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch): input price cut 52% ($0.05 → $0.02/1M), output price cut 44% ($0.20 → $0.11/1M) on 2026-09-23. xAI: Grok 3 Mini: price unchanged since we started tracking it on 2026-03-10.
About the two models
OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch)
gpt-oss-20b is an open-weight 21B parameter model released by OpenAI under the Apache 2.0 license. It uses a Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) architecture with 3.6B active parameters per forward pass, optimized for...
Full OpenAI: gpt-oss-20b (batch) specs →xAI: Grok 3 Mini
A lightweight model that thinks before responding. Fast, smart, and great for logic-based tasks that do not require deep domain knowledge. The raw thinking traces are accessible.
Full xAI: Grok 3 Mini specs →