// alternatives · October 2026
GPT-5.2-Codex alternatives
Cheaper models that come close, budget substitutes, and the cheapest step up — chosen on published LiveBench scores and live list price, never on our opinion. Every model here supports tool calling and image input, as GPT-5.2-Codex does.
LiveBench hasn't published a run for GPT-5.2-Codex. The strongest benchmarked model at a similar or lower price is GPT-6.1 Sol, scoring 84.1 overall.
GPT-5.2-Codex: no published LiveBench run, $4.81 per 1M blended tokens, about $1,610/mo for a RAG assistant.
Benchmarked models at or below its price
GPT-5.2-Codex has no published LiveBench run, so these are the highest-scoring benchmarked models priced no more than 25% above it — a known quantity to test against.
| Model | Overall | vs GPT-5.2-Codex | Blended / 1M | RAG assistant | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6.1 Solopenai 17% cheaper. Head to head → | 84.1 | — | $4.00−17% | $1,440/mo | 1.1M |
| Claude Sonnet 5.5anthropic 17% cheaper. Head to head → | 80.0 | — | $4.00−17% | $1,440/mo | 1M |
| Gemini 4 Argongoogle 17% cheaper. Head to head → | 79.3 | — | $4.00−17% | $1,440/mo | 1.0M |
| GPT-6.1 Terraopenai 58% cheaper. Head to head → | 77.8 | — | $2.00−58% | $720.00/mo | 1.1M |
| DeepSeek V4.1 Flash 1017deepseek 89% cheaper. Head to head → | 74.0 | — | $0.525−89% | $194.40/mo | 1.0M |
| Kimi K3.1 Promoonshotai 17% cheaper. Head to head → | 71.3 | — | $4.00−17% | $1,480/mo | 1.0M |
GPT-5.2-Codex alternatives FAQ
What is the best alternative to GPT-5.2-Codex?
GPT-6.1 Sol. 17% cheaper. Every suggestion supports tool calling and image input, like GPT-5.2-Codex.
How alternatives are chosen
- Scores — LiveBench release 2026-10-25. Only models with a published run are suggested on quality; a missing model means “not evaluated”, not “worse”.
- Prices — live list prices from OpenRouter, blended 3:1 input:output. Monthly figures price a RAG assistant with the published cached-input rate where there is one.
- Same job — suggestions must support every capability GPT-5.2-Codex has among tool calling and image input. Other listings of the same model (free or batch tiers) are variants, not alternatives, and are left out.
A few points on a public benchmark can hide large differences on your own tasks. Shortlist here, then decide with an eval — how to build one.