Comparisons

OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B vs Claude Opus 4.8

On provider list prices, OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B costs $0.15 per million input tokens against $5 for Claude Opus 4.8: 33.3x apart. Output is $0.60 against $25 (41.7x). On Allocate both bill at list plus the 7% transaction fee.

OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B Claude Opus 4.8
LabOpenAIAnthropic
AccessOpen weightsAPI only
Context window128K tokens200K tokens
List price, input$0.15 / M tokens$5 / M tokens
List price, output$0.6 / M tokens$25 / M tokens
Cached inputn/an/a
LicenseCustom licenseProprietary API
Fine-tunableYesNo

Specifications and provider list prices from the Allocate catalog, checked 2026-07-08. Billed price is list plus the 7% transaction fee.

What the numbers say

Take 1,000,000 requests a month at 1,200 input and 350 output tokens each. That workload costs $390 a month on OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B and $14,750 on Claude Opus 4.8 at list: a gap of $14,360, or 37.8x.

Claude Opus 4.8 reads 200K tokens per request against 128K for OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B, 1.5x the window. That decides which one can take whole documents without splitting them.

OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B$0.15$0.60
Claude Opus 4.8$5$25
InputOutput

Choose OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B for

  • The lower list price ($0.15 in / $0.60 out per M tokens)
  • Open weights you can fine-tune and own
OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B details

Choose Claude Opus 4.8 for

  • Hardest reasoning problems
  • High-stakes analysis
  • Escalation tier for agents
Claude Opus 4.8 details

Common questions

Which is cheaper, OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B or Claude Opus 4.8?

OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B, on this workload shape. At list prices it is $0.15/$0.60 per million tokens in and out against $5/$25 for Claude Opus 4.8. Billed on Allocate: $0.16/$0.64 against $5.35/$26.75, list plus 7%.

Which has the bigger context window?

Claude Opus 4.8: 200,000 tokens (200K) against 131,072 (128K) for OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B.

Can I fine-tune OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B or Claude Opus 4.8?

OpenAI GPT-OSS 120B publishes open weights (Custom license) and can be fine-tuned on your own data. Claude Opus 4.8 is a closed model served over API; its weights are not available.

Related comparisons

Run the numbers on your workload

Or don’t choose. On Allocate a route name is the contract: point yours at one model today, swap to the other tomorrow, and compare them on your live traffic with per-token metering.