GPT-1 vs GPT-2 Medium
GPT-1 (2018) and GPT-2 Medium (2019) are compact production models from OpenAI. GPT-1 ships a 512-token context window, while GPT-2 Medium ships a 1k-token context window. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads. It focuses on practical selection signals rather than broad model-family marketing. The goal is to make the tradeoff clear before deeper testing.
GPT-2 Medium is safer overall; choose GPT-1 when provider fit matters.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | GPT-1 | GPT-2 Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | general production evaluation | general production evaluation |
| Decision fit | General | General |
| Context window | 512 | 1k |
| Cheapest output | - | - |
| Provider routes | 0 tracked | 0 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 0 shared | 0 shared |
Decision tradeoffs
- Use GPT-1 when your own prompt tests beat the comparison signals; the local data does not show a decisive standalone advantage yet.
- GPT-2 Medium has the larger context window for long prompts, retrieval packs, or transcript analysis.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
GPT-1
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
GPT-2 Medium
Unavailable
No complete token price in local provider data
Cost delta unavailable until both models have sourced input and output token prices.
Switch friction
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for GPT-1 and GPT-2 Medium; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
- No overlapping tracked provider route is sourced for GPT-2 Medium and GPT-1; plan for SDK, billing, or endpoint changes.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2018-06-11 | 2019-02-14 |
| Context window | 512 | 1k |
| Parameters | 120M | 355M |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | MITOSI-approved |
| Openness | Proprietary | Open source |
| Weights | Not released | Unknown |
| Code | Unknown | Unknown |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: permitted |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | 2017-12 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | GPT-1 | GPT-2 Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | - | - |
| Output price | - | - |
| Providers | - | - |
Pricing not yet sourced for either model.
Capabilities
| Capability | GPT-1 | GPT-2 Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | No | No |
| Multimodal | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No |
| JSON / Tool use | No | No |
| Structured outputs | No | No |
| Code execution | No | No |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
No shared benchmark scores are currently available for this pair.
Continue comparing
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Last reviewed: 2026-05-19. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.