Fugu Ultra v2.0 vs GPT-5.4 Nano

Sakana AI · Global  |  OpenAI · US · Updated June 2026

Quick verdict

Pick Fugu Ultra v2.0 for sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark or claims to outperform flagship models like gpt-6 astra and claude fable 5.1 despite its underlying orchestration pool reportedly excluding both of them. Pick GPT-5.4 Nano for cheapest gpt-5.4-family tier at $0.20/$1.25 — built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work or classification, extraction, ranking and sub-agent execution at scale. On a tight budget at scale, GPT-5.4 Nano is the value pick.

Fugu Ultra v2.0 (Sakana AI) and GPT-5.4 Nano (OpenAI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Fugu Ultra v2.0 is sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens. GPT-5.4 Nano is openAI's cheapest GPT-5.4 variant at $0.20/$1.25 with a 400K window — a speed-and-cost tier for high-volume tasks, not deep reasoning. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.

Key differences at a glance

Side-by-side specs

SpecFugu Ultra v2.0GPT-5.4 Nano
ProviderSakana AI (Global) OpenAI (US)
ReleasedSeptember 10, 2026 March 17, 2026
Context window1M tokens (~1,500 pages) 400K (~600 pages)
Price (in/out)$5/$30 per 1M tokens $0.2/$1.25 per 1M tokens
Open weight?No — API only No — API only
Modalitiestext text, image, code
SWE-Bench VerifiedNot published Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1MNot published Not published

Who wins what

Sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the DeepSWE coding-repair benchmark

Fugu Ultra v2.0

GPT-5.4 Nano is comparatively weak here — a nano tier — not built for hard reasoning or frontier coding

Claims to outperform flagship models like GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 despite its underlying orchestration pool reportedly excluding both of them

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens — and it carries the larger 1M tokens context.

1M-token context window

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Its 1M tokens window holds about 2.5× more than GPT-5.4 Nano's 400K in a single prompt.

Cheapest GPT-5.4-family tier at $0.20/$1.25 — built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work

GPT-5.4 Nano

At $0.2/$1.25 per 1M tokens it undercuts Fugu Ultra v2.0 ($5/$30 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.

Classification, extraction, ranking and sub-agent execution at scale

GPT-5.4 Nano

Fugu Ultra v2.0 is comparatively weak here — not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that dynamically routes tasks across a pool of other models, so head-to-head benchmark framing against monolithic frontier models should be read skeptically

A 400K context in the smallest, fastest GPT-5.4 variant

GPT-5.4 Nano

OpenAI's cheapest GPT-5.4 variant at $0.20/$1.25 with a 400K window — a speed-and-cost tier for high-volume tasks, not deep reasoning — and it runs cheaper at $0.2/$1.25 per 1M tokens.

Lowest cost at scale

GPT-5.4 Nano

At $0.2/$1.25 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.

Largest single-prompt input

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Its 1M tokens window is about 2.5× larger than GPT-5.4 Nano's 400K, fitting roughly 1,500 pages in one prompt.

Which should you pick?

A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume

GPT-5.4 Nano

At $0.2/$1.25 per 1M tokens it undercuts Fugu Ultra v2.0, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.

Someone analysing very long documents or codebases

Fugu Ultra v2.0

Larger 1M tokens window fits more in one prompt.

Anyone whose priority is sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark

Fugu Ultra v2.0

It is specifically built for that.

Anyone whose priority is cheapest gpt-5.4-family tier at $0.20/$1.25 — built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work

GPT-5.4 Nano

That is its strongest area.

Fugu Ultra v2.0: where it fits

Sakana AI's flagship multi-agent orchestration model, claiming best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 self-reported benchmarks against monolithic frontier models — $5/$30 per million tokens. Released September 10, 2026 by Sakana AI, it is built for sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the DeepSWE coding-repair benchmark, claims to outperform flagship models like GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 despite its underlying orchestration pool reportedly excluding both of them, and 1M-token context window.

Its trade-offs are real: not a single trained model — Sakana describes Fugu as "a Multi-Agent System, Delivered as One Model" that dynamically routes tasks across a pool of other models, so head-to-head benchmark framing against monolithic frontier models should be read skeptically, pricing rises to roughly $10/$45 per million tokens for prompts above 272K tokens, and benchmark comparisons against GPT-6 Astra and Claude Fable 5.1 are Sakana's own self-reported figures, not independently verified head-to-head scores. At $5 in / $30 out per million tokens, it sits in the premium price band.

GPT-5.4 Nano: where it fits

OpenAI's cheapest GPT-5.4 variant at $0.20/$1.25 with a 400K window — a speed-and-cost tier for high-volume tasks, not deep reasoning. Released March 17, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for cheapest GPT-5.4-family tier at $0.20/$1.25 — built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work, classification, extraction, ranking and sub-agent execution at scale, a 400K context in the smallest, fastest GPT-5.4 variant, and text and image input for cheap multimodal pipelines.

Its trade-offs: a nano tier — not built for hard reasoning or frontier coding, no published SWE-Bench Verified score (OpenAI reported SWE-Bench Pro instead), outclassed by GPT-5.4 and GPT-5.4 Mini whenever a task needs real depth, and image input only — no audio or video. At $0.2 in / $1.25 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.

The bottom line for this matchup

Fugu Ultra v2.0 and GPT-5.4 Nano overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. GPT-5.4 Nano costs less per token; Fugu Ultra v2.0 holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Fugu Ultra v2.0 for sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark, GPT-5.4 Nano for cheapest gpt-5.4-family tier at $0.20/$1.25 — built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.

Want both Fugu Ultra v2.0 and GPT-5.4 Nano without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.

See pricing

Frequently asked questions

Is Fugu Ultra v2.0 or GPT-5.4 Nano better for coding?

Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, Fugu Ultra v2.0 leans toward sakana's own evaluation reports best-or-joint-best results on 5 of 8 benchmarks tested, including a 74.3 on the deepswe coding-repair benchmark while GPT-5.4 Nano leans toward cheapest gpt-5.4-family tier at $0.20/$1.25 — built for high-volume, latency-sensitive work, and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.

Which is cheaper, Fugu Ultra v2.0 or GPT-5.4 Nano?

GPT-5.4 Nano is cheaper — $5/$30 per 1M tokens vs $0.2/$1.25 per 1M tokens, roughly 25× apart on input.

Which has the bigger context window?

Fugu Ultra v2.0 — 1M tokens vs 400K, about 2.5× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.

Can I use both Fugu Ultra v2.0 and GPT-5.4 Nano together?

Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Fugu Ultra v2.0, GPT-5.4 Nano and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.

Which is newer, Fugu Ultra v2.0 or GPT-5.4 Nano?

Fugu Ultra v2.0 — released September 10, 2026, about 6 months after GPT-5.4 Nano.

Related comparisons

Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.