Performance Benchmarks for gpt-oss-120b

Analyze how gpt-oss-120b stacks up against other frontier models in terms of cost-to-performance and raw intelligence (LMArena Elo).

2026 Performance Summary

🚀 Intelligence (Elo): 1354
💰 API Cost (Input): $3.9e-8 / 1M tokens
⚡ API Cost (Output): $1.9e-7 / 1M tokens
⏱️ Real-world Throughput: 48 tokens/s

Analysis: gpt-oss-120b is currently positioned on the Pareto Frontier. This means it offers a unique and optimal balance between intelligence (Elo: 1354) and cost ($3.9e-8/1M tokens), making it a top-tier choice for its price bracket.

Highly Recommended Alternatives

Frontier Model	LMArena Elo	API Cost (1M)	Throughput
gpt-5.2-chat-latest-20260210	1477	$0.00000175	37
gemini-3-flash	1474	$5e-7	67
qwen3.6-plus-preview	1453	$3.25e-7	38
gemma-4-31b	1451	$1.4e-7	5
gemma-4-26b-a4b	1438	$1.2e-7	22

*These models represent the Pareto Frontier (optimal cost-to-performance).*