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GPT-5 mini

GPT-5 mini delivers GPT-5 family intelligence at a reduced cost tier, making advanced reasoning, coding, and multimodal capabilities accessible for high-volume production workloads where full GPT-5 pricing is impractical.

View API reference
Input and output price
Prices from: Input $0.25, Output $2, Per 1M tokens
24h uptime
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import { streamText } from 'ai'
const result = streamText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
prompt: 'Why is the sky blue?'
})
Read docs

Copy link to headingPlayground

Try out GPT-5 mini by OpenAI. Usage is billed to your team at API rates. Free users (those who haven't made a payment) get $5 of credits every 30 days.

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GPT-5 mini

Copy link to headingProviders

Route requests across multiple providers. Copy a provider slug to set your preference. Visit the docs for more info. Using a provider means you agree to their terms, listed under Legal.

Provider
Context
Max Output
Latency
Throughput
Input
Output
Cache
Web Search
Capabilities
ZDR
No Training
Free Tier
Release Date
400K128K4.2 s135 tps
$0.25/M
$2/M
Read$0.03/M
$14/K
+3
08/07/2025
400K128K3.3 s113 tps
$0.25/M+2 more
$2/M+2 more
Read$0.03/M
$10/K
+3
08/07/2025

Copy link to headingUptime

Direct request success rate on AI Gateway and per-provider. Visit the docs for more info.

Copy link to headingThroughput

P50 throughput on live AI Gateway traffic, in tokens per second (TPS). Visit the docs for more info.

Copy link to headingLatency

P50 time to first token (TTFT) on live AI Gateway traffic, in milliseconds. View the docs for more info.

Getting started

Call GPT-5 mini through AI Gateway with the AI SDK generateText and streamText functions, or through the OpenAI Chat Completions, OpenAI Responses, and Anthropic Messages APIs by changing the base URL. AI Gateway authenticates the request and routes it to an available provider.

Install the AI SDK (pnpm add ai dotenv), create an API key from the API Keys page, and set it as AI_GATEWAY_API_KEY in your environment. Full setup is covered in the text generation quickstart.

index.ts
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
prompt: 'Why is the sky blue?',
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

Top-level parameters

The same GPT-5 mini request in each API format AI Gateway supports.

top-level-params.ts
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
system: 'You are a concise technical assistant.',
prompt: 'Summarize the tradeoffs between static generation and SSR.',
maxOutputTokens: 1024,
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

Standard parameters like prompt, messages, temperature, and tools work as documented in the AI SDK docs. These are the parameters with model-specific behavior.

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
modelstringYesModel ID in the form creator/model, e.g. openai/gpt-5-mini. AI Gateway routes the request to an available provider.
maxOutputTokensnumberNoHard cap on generated tokens. GPT-5 mini supports up to 128,000 output tokens. Reasoning tokens count toward this limit.
reasoning'provider-default' | 'none' | 'minimal' | 'low' | 'medium' | 'high' | 'xhigh'NoProvider-agnostic reasoning effort, available in AI SDK 7 or later. Maps to the provider’s native reasoning configuration; reasoning settings under providerOptions take precedence when both are set. See the Reasoning section below.
providerOptionsRecord<string, JSONValue>NoAI Gateway routing options under gateway, plus any provider-native options under the provider’s own namespace — see the table below.

Input limits

InputFormatsSourcesMax countMax sizeLimits
TextPrompt and response share the 400K-token context window
ImageURL, base64, Uint8ArraySent as image parts in messages; counts as input tokens
PDFURL, base64, Uint8ArraySent as file parts in messages; counts as input tokens

Provider options

Set AI Gateway routing options under providerOptions.gateway. For provider-specific options, pass them under the provider’s namespace as documented by the AI SDK.

Learn more in the AI SDK openai provider docs.

provider-options.ts
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
prompt: 'Why is the sky blue?',
providerOptions: {
gateway: {
only: ['azure', 'openai'],
},
},
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

These AI Gateway routing options apply to every model. Provider-specific options pass through under the provider’s own namespace (for example providerOptions.anthropic) exactly as documented by the AI SDK.

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
providerOptions.gateway.onlystring[]NoRestrict routing to these provider slugs. Requests fail over only within the listed providers.
providerOptions.gateway.orderstring[]NoPreferred provider order. Listed providers are tried first; unlisted providers remain available as fallbacks.
providerOptions.gateway.sort'cost' | 'ttft' | 'tps'NoRank candidate providers by price, time to first token, or tokens per second instead of the default routing order.
providerOptions.gateway.zeroDataRetentionbooleanNoRoute only to providers with a zero-data-retention policy for this model.

Routing across providers

AI Gateway serves the same model through multiple providers and fails over automatically. order expresses a preference while keeping every provider eligible; only is a hard allowlist — if none of the listed providers are available the request fails instead of falling back.

Options under a provider's own namespace (for example providerOptions.anthropic) are forwarded to that provider with the request. Providers ignore option namespaces that don't apply to them, so it is safe to set provider options alongside gateway routing options.

Reasoning

AI Gateway bridges reasoning across every API format. The AI SDK exposes a provider-agnostic top-level reasoning level (none, minimal, low, medium, high, or xhigh); the Chat Completions and Responses formats take the same effort under reasoning.effort; and the Anthropic Messages format uses a native thinking token budget. Whichever you send, the gateway maps it to the target model’s native configuration, converting between effort levels and token budgets as needed. Reasoning-related settings under providerOptions take full precedence over the top-level reasoning value and are never merged. Reasoning tokens typically count toward your output-token usage, though how they’re reported and billed varies by provider.

Learn more in the AI Gateway reasoning guide.

reasoning.ts
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
prompt: 'Explain the Monty Hall problem step by step.',
reasoning: 'high',
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

Image input

Send images alongside text as message parts. Images count as input tokens.

image-input.ts
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
messages: [
{
role: 'user',
content: [
{ type: 'text', text: 'Describe this image.' },
{ type: 'image', image: 'https://example.com/photo.jpg' },
],
},
],
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

PDF input

Attach PDFs as file parts. Their contents count as input tokens.

pdf-input.ts
import { generateText } from 'ai';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
messages: [
{
role: 'user',
content: [
{ type: 'text', text: 'Summarize this document.' },
{
type: 'file',
mediaType: 'application/pdf',
data: 'https://example.com/document.pdf',
},
],
},
],
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

Tool calling

Expose tools the model can call. Define each tool’s inputs with a Zod schema.

tool-calling.ts
import { generateText, tool } from 'ai';
import { z } from 'zod';
import 'dotenv/config';
async function main() {
const result = await generateText({
model: 'openai/gpt-5-mini',
prompt: 'What is the weather in San Francisco?',
tools: {
getWeather: tool({
description: 'Get the current weather for a location',
inputSchema: z.object({ location: z.string() }),
execute: async ({ location }) => ({ location, temperatureC: 18 }),
}),
},
});
console.log(result.text);
}
main().catch(console.error);

Copy link to headingMore models by OpenAI

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Copy link to headingAbout GPT-5 mini

GPT-5 mini launched on August 7, 2025 alongside GPT-5, GPT-5 nano, and GPT-5 pro as part of the GPT-5 model family. It occupies the cost-performance tier that typically handles the majority of production API traffic: capable enough for most tasks, affordable enough to scale.

The model inherits the GPT-5 family's architectural improvements in reasoning, coding, and instruction following while operating at reduced compute requirements. It supports a context window of 400K tokens, multimodal input, function calling, and structured outputs, providing the full feature set developers need for production applications.

If you're migrating from GPT-4o mini or GPT-4.1 mini, GPT-5 mini is the next generation of the mid-tier model. It improves quality across the board while maintaining the economics that make high-volume deployment practical.

Copy link to headingWhat To Consider When Choosing a Provider

  • Configuration: GPT-5 mini is a strong choice for most production traffic in the GPT-5 family. It provides enough capability for the vast majority of tasks while keeping per-request costs manageable at scale.
  • Configuration: It sits between GPT-5 nano (fastest, cheapest) and full GPT-5 (most capable), covering the middle ground where most real-world applications operate.
  • Zero Data Retention: Zero Data Retention is available for this model. It is offered on a per-provider and model basis. See the documentation for details.
  • Authentication: AI Gateway authenticates requests using an API key or OIDC token. You do not need to manage provider credentials directly.

Copy link to headingWhen to Use GPT-5 mini

Best for

  • Production chat interfaces: Fast, capable responses for customer-facing conversational products
  • Code assistance: Strong coding support for development tools at sustainable per-request costs
  • Document processing: Analyzing and summarizing documents with GPT-5 family instruction following
  • Agentic workflows: Cost-effective backbone for multi-step agent pipelines with many sequential calls
  • Content generation: Marketing copy, technical writing, and editorial assistance at volume

Consider alternatives when

  • Maximum capability needed: Full GPT-5 for the highest quality on complex tasks
  • Minimal cost required: GPT-5 nano for classification, routing, and simple extraction
  • Deep reasoning: O3 for problems requiring extended chain-of-thought deliberation
  • Legacy compatibility: GPT-4o mini if you need to maintain existing integrations without migration

GPT-5 mini is the default production model in the GPT-5 family, balancing capability and cost for the workloads that make up the bulk of real-world API traffic. Available through AI Gateway, it is the natural upgrade path from GPT-4o mini and GPT-4.1 mini.

Copy link to headingFrequently Asked Questions

  • How does GPT-5 mini compare to GPT-4o mini?

    GPT-5 mini is the next generation of OpenAI's mid-tier model, delivering improved reasoning, coding, and instruction following compared to GPT-4o mini.

  • What context window does GPT-5 mini support?

    400K tokens, enabling extensive document processing and conversation history retention.

  • When should I use full GPT-5 instead of mini?

    When the task demands maximum capability, particularly on complex reasoning, nuanced writing, or challenging coding problems where the quality gap is measurable and consequential.

  • Does GPT-5 mini support function calling and structured outputs?

    Yes. It supports the full API feature set including function calling, structured outputs via JSON schema, vision input, and system messages.

  • How does AI Gateway handle authentication for GPT-5 mini?

    AI Gateway accepts a single API key or OIDC token for all requests. You don't embed OpenAI credentials in your application; AI Gateway routes and authenticates on your behalf.

  • What is the pricing for GPT-5 mini?

    Pricing appears on this page and updates as providers adjust their rates. AI Gateway routes traffic through the configured provider.

  • What are typical latency characteristics?

    This page shows live throughput and time-to-first-token metrics measured across real AI Gateway traffic.

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