GPT-5 Chat vs Solar Pro 3
Solar Pro 3 comes out ahead, 55 to 34 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
OpenAIGPT-5 Chat
34/100- ECI—
- Price$1.25 / $10.00
- Context400K
- Our pick
Upstage
Solar Pro 3
55/100- ECI—
- Price$0.25 / $0.25
- Context131K
Add a model
Make it a three-way comparison.
Solar Pro 3 is our pick
Solar Pro 3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against GPT-5 Chat (34). It leads on price. GPT-5 Chat wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest priceSolar Pro 3Solar Pro 3 $0.25 · GPT-5 Chat $3.44 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-5 ChatGPT-5 Chat 400,000 · Solar Pro 3 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-5 ChatGPT-5 Chat: Text, Images · Solar Pro 3: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | GPT-5 Chat | Solar Pro 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | 50% | 24 | 78 |
| Inputs & features | 30% | 45 | 35 |
| Context window | 20% | 44 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 34/100 | 55/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-5 ChatOpenAI | Solar Pro 3Upstage |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | — |
| ECI rank | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $1.25 | $0.25 (best) |
| Output | $10.00 | $0.25 (best) |
| Cached input | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.44 | $0.25 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 2 providers | Official Upstage API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 400,000 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 128,000 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | No | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | solar-pro3 |
| API providers | 2 | 2 |
| Released | Aug 7, 2025 | Jan 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Sep 30, 2024 | Mar 2025 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- GPT-5 Chat$32.50
- Solar Pro 3$3.00
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-5 Chat or Solar Pro 3?
Solar Pro 3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 55/100 against GPT-5 Chat (34). It leads on price. GPT-5 Chat wins on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5 Chat or Solar Pro 3?
Solar Pro 3 is cheaper at $0.25 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). GPT-5 Chat costs $1.25 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (median across 2 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.25 per million tokens for Solar Pro 3 versus $3.44 for GPT-5 Chat (14× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. GPT-5 Chat has not been scored yet and Solar Pro 3 has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5 Chat and Solar Pro 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that GPT-5 Chat does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5 Chat has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 131,072 for Solar Pro 3. Maximum output per response: GPT-5 Chat up to 128,000, Solar Pro 3 up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-5 Chat accepts text and images; Solar Pro 3 accepts text. GPT-5 Chat handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. GPT-5 Chat and Solar Pro 3 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Solar Pro 3 is the newest, released Jan 2026. GPT-5 Chat came out Aug 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5 Chat Sep 30, 2024, Solar Pro 3 Mar 2025.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
