GPT-OSS 120B vs Grok 3 Mini
Compare pricing, context windows, and strengths for GPT-OSS 120B by OpenAI and Grok 3 Mini by xAI - and see how to put either to work in Appaca.
GPT-OSS 120B
OpenAI's most powerful open-weight model (117B params, 5.1B active), fitting on a single H100 GPU - fully customizable, licensed for unrestricted commercial use.
View GPT-OSS 120BGrok 3 Mini
A lightweight reasoning model that is fast, efficient, and ideal for logic-heavy tasks without deep domain requirements.
View Grok 3 MiniGPT-OSS 120B vs Grok 3 Mini at a glance
Specs and pricing side by side, from the Appaca AI models directory.
| Spec | GPT-OSS 120B | Grok 3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | xAI |
| Model type | Text | Text |
| Context window | 131.1K tokens | 131.1K tokens |
| Input price | Free (open weight) | $0.3 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | Free (open weight) | $0.5 / 1M tokens |
| Status | Current | Current |
How GPT-OSS 120B and Grok 3 Mini differ
What the numbers mean in practice when choosing between GPT-OSS 120B and Grok 3 Mini.
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GPT-OSS 120B is an open-weight model with no per-token licensing fees, while Grok 3 Mini charges $0.3 per million input tokens.
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Both models offer the same 131.1K tokens context window.
Strengths side by side
Where each model shines, according to benchmarks and provider positioning.
GPT-OSS 120B
1. Most powerful open-weight model
- 117B parameters (5.1B active) while fitting on a single H100 GPU.
- High reasoning quality compared to other open models.
2. Apache 2.0 license
- Fully permissive, no copyleft or patent restrictions.
- Safe for commercial products, research, and redistribution.
3. Configurable reasoning effort
- Supports adjustable reasoning: low, medium, high.
- Lets developers balance latency vs. depth.
4. Full chain-of-thought access
- Unlike closed commercial models, this exposes complete reasoning traces.
- Useful for debugging, auditing, safety research, and transparency.
5. Fine-tunable
- Fully supports parameter fine-tuning.
- Can be adapted to domain-specific workflows and proprietary datasets.
6. Agentic capabilities
- Built-in function calling.
- Native support for web browsing, Python execution, and structured outputs.
- Ideal for open-source agents, full-stack automation, and developer tooling.
7. Tooling ecosystem support
- Compatible with Chat Completions, Responses API, Assistants, Realtime, Batch, and Fine-tuning endpoints.
- Supports Image Generation, Code Interpreter (via Python runtime), and more.
8. Open-source availability
- Downloadable on HuggingFace for local or on-prem deployment.
- Supports full offline, private, or self-hosted usage.
9. Streaming + function calling support
- Real-time interactions.
- Strong for interactive agents, coding assistants, and UI-driven workflows.
Grok 3 Mini
1. Lightweight but thoughtful reasoning
- Designed to 'think before responding' with accessible raw thought traces.
- Excellent for logic puzzles, lightweight reasoning, and systematic tasks.
2. Extremely cost-efficient
- Only $0.30 per 1M input tokens and $0.50 per 1M output tokens.
- Cached token support lowers cost to $0.075 per 1M tokens.
3. Fast and responsive
- Optimized for low-latency applications and high-throughput use cases.
- Suitable for chatbots, assistants, and automation flows.
4. Supports modern developer features
- Function calling for tool-augmented workflows.
- Structured outputs for schema-controlled responses.
- Integrates cleanly with agents and pipelines.
5. Large 131K context window
- Can understand and work with long documents, transcripts, or multi-turn sessions.
6. Great for non-domain-heavy tasks
- Useful for summarization, rewriting, extraction, everyday reasoning, and app logic.
- Does not require domain expertise to operate effectively.
7. Compatible with enterprise infrastructure
- Stable rate limits: 480 requests per minute.
- Same API structure as all Grok 3 models.
8. Optional Live Search support
- $25 per 1K sources for real-time search augmentation.
Use GPT-OSS 120B or Grok 3 Mini - or both
Appaca is the AI workspace for operators. Build internal tools and AI co-workers powered by GPT-OSS 120B or Grok 3 Mini - connected to your real data and ready for your whole team. No code, no deployment.
Describe it, and it's built
Tell the Appaca agent the internal tool you need and it builds a working app powered by GPT-OSS 120B or Grok 3 Mini. No code, no API keys, no deployment.
Switch models without rebuilding
Start on GPT-OSS 120B, test the same tool on Grok 3 Mini, and keep whichever performs better - the rest of your app stays exactly as it is.
Automated for the whole team
Schedule tools to run on autopilot - daily digests, weekly reports, real-time triggers - and share them with your whole team from one workspace.
Describe it, and it's built
Tell the Appaca agent what your team needs and it builds a working app powered by GPT-OSS 120B or Grok 3 Mini - connected to the tools you already use.
Related comparisons
See how GPT-OSS 120B and Grok 3 Mini stack up against other models in the directory.
FAQs
GPT-OSS 120B is open weight and free of per-token licensing fees, while Grok 3 Mini costs $0.3 per million input tokens and $0.5 per million output tokens.
They are equal: both GPT-OSS 120B and Grok 3 Mini support a 131.1K tokens context window.
It depends on the job. Compare the pricing, context window, and strengths above against your workload - and remember the choice isn't permanent. In Appaca you can build a tool on GPT-OSS 120B, test the same tool on Grok 3 Mini, and switch at any time without rebuilding anything.
Yes. Appaca is a no-code AI workspace: describe the internal tool your team needs and the Appaca agent builds it as a working app powered by GPT-OSS 120B, Grok 3 Mini, or any other model in the directory - with a built-in database, team access, and integrations. No API keys to wire up and nothing to deploy.
Build AI tools with GPT-OSS 120B or Grok 3 Mini
Describe the tool your team needs and get a working app powered by the model you choose - with a built-in database, team access, and integrations. No code, no deployment.