GPT-OSS 120B vs GPT-OSS 120B on Groq
The same open weights served by two hosts. The model answers the same way on both; what differs is the price, the limits that apply to your account, and what happens when you outgrow a free tier.
Groq figures are public list prices and documented limits, checked 2026-09-16 against the provider page. Inference APIs prices are read live from the price list.
- Cost: GPT-OSS 120B on Groq is cheaper in all three workloads, by 7–21%.
- Limits: Groq: Free tier: 30 requests/min, 1,000 requests/day, 8,000 tokens/min, 200,000 tokens/day. Developer-tier upgrades were paused when we checked (Sep 2026). Here: no per-minute or per-day caps.
- Switching: same model id on both, so moving is a base URL and key change.
Side by side
| GPT-OSS 120B | GPT-OSS 120B on Groq | |
|---|---|---|
| Served by | Inference APIs | Groq |
| Model author | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Model id | openai/gpt-oss-120b | openai/gpt-oss-120b |
| Input price | $0.20 / 1M tokens | $0.15 / 1M tokens |
| Output price | $0.80 / 1M tokens | $0.75 / 1M tokens |
| Context window | 131K tokens | 131K tokens |
| Capabilities | Chat, Reasoning, Tool calling, JSON mode | Chat, Reasoning, Tool calling, JSON mode |
| Weights | Open | Open |
| Status | Available | Available |
| Limits | No per-minute or per-day request or token caps; usage draws on a prepaid balance | Free tier: 30 requests/min, 1,000 requests/day, 8,000 tokens/min, 200,000 tokens/day. Developer-tier upgrades were paused when we checked (Sep 2026). |
| Time to first token | 0.46 s | not measured by us |
| Output speed | 45.8 tokens / s | not measured by us |
What three workloads cost
List prices applied to the same work. The cheaper side of each row is in bold.
| Workload | GPT-OSS 120B | GPT-OSS 120B on Groq | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chat assistant — 10,000 turns of 800 tokens in, 300 out | $4.00 | $3.45 | 14% |
| Long prompts or RAG — 10,000 requests of 8,000 in, 500 out | $20.00 | $15.75 | 21% |
| Generation-heavy — 10,000 requests of 500 in, 2,000 out | $17.00 | $15.75 | 7% |
GPT-OSS 120B on Groq is cheaper in all three workloads, by 7–21%. Reasoning models bill their thinking as output tokens, so real output counts run higher than the visible answer; treat the generation-heavy row as a floor for them.
When to choose which
- You have outgrown the free tier and cannot upgrade
- Cost is the deciding factor; it is cheaper in every workload above
- Your volume fits the free tier, or you already have a Developer-tier account
- Raw output speed is the priority; Groq's hardware is built for it
Measured speed
Medians of three streamed runs on 2026-09-17, public endpoint, a prompt that asks for about 120 words. Time to first token is the first token of any kind, reasoning included; output speed counts every generated token from that point. Reasoning models then think before the visible answer starts: GPT-OSS 120B began answering after 1.38 s at default settings, which you can shorten with the reasoning controls on each model page. Expect ±30% with time of day. We did not measure Groq and do not quote other people's numbers; read "not measured" as unknown, not slow. Method and raw numbers: speed measurements.
Switching from Groq
The model id is accepted unchanged, so the edit is the base URL and the key.
import os
from openai import OpenAI
# before: Groq
# client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.groq.com/openai/v1", api_key=os.environ["GROQ_API_KEY"])
# MODEL = "openai/gpt-oss-120b"
# after: Inference APIs
client = OpenAI(base_url="https://api.inferenceapis.com/v1", api_key=os.environ["INFERENCE_API_KEY"])
MODEL = "openai/gpt-oss-120b"
resp = client.chat.completions.create(model=MODEL, messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Hello"}], max_tokens=500)More detail, including Node, LangChain and LiteLLM: switching OpenAI-compatible providers.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, GPT-OSS 120B or GPT-OSS 120B on Groq?
GPT-OSS 120B on Groq is cheaper in all three workloads, by 7–21%. The table above uses list prices: GPT-OSS 120B $0.20 / 1M tokens input, $0.80 / 1M tokens output; GPT-OSS 120B on Groq $0.15 / 1M tokens input, $0.75 / 1M tokens output.
Can I switch from GPT-OSS 120B on Groq to GPT-OSS 120B without rewriting code?
Yes, if you call it through an OpenAI-compatible client. Change the base URL to https://api.inferenceapis.com/v1, swap the API key, and keep the model id: openai/gpt-oss-120b is accepted as is.
What limits apply to GPT-OSS 120B on Groq?
Free tier: 30 requests/min, 1,000 requests/day, 8,000 tokens/min, 200,000 tokens/day. Developer-tier upgrades were paused when we checked (Sep 2026). On Inference APIs there are no per-minute or per-day request or token caps; usage draws on a prepaid balance.
Why does GPT-OSS 120B use more output tokens than the visible answer?
It is a reasoning model: it thinks before it answers and the thinking is billed as output tokens. Budget for that in output-heavy workloads, and set max_tokens to a few hundred or more so the answer is not cut off.
Spotted a price or limit that has changed? Tell us and we will re-check the provider page.