Command R vs o4-mini
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Command R specs · o4-mini specs- PriceCommand R
Command R is roughly 2.9× cheaper on output tokens ($1.50 vs $4.40 per 1M).
- Context windowo4-mini
o4-mini accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- Modalitieso4-mini
o4-mini supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Command R.
- OpennessCommand R
Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); o4-mini is API-only.
It's a genuine coin-flip between Command R and o4-mini: 2 category wins each, with the rest tied. Command R is roughly 2.9× cheaper on output tokens ($1.50 vs $4.40 per 1M). o4-mini accepts 200K tokens vs 128K, 1.6× the room for long documents and codebases.
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. They differ in modality coverage, Command R handles text while o4-mini handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0); o4-mini is API-only.
o4-mini is the newer of the two, released 13 months after Command R, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Command R is usually picked for rag and customer support workloads, while o4-mini sees more deployments in reasoning and math. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Command R | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Cohere | OpenAI |
| Released | Mar 2024 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
| Context window | 128K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.50 / 1M tokens | $1.10 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $1.50 / 1M tokens | $4.40 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | 2024-06 |
| Open weights | Yes (CC-BY-NC 4.0) | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
Pricing at scale
What you'd actually pay at typical workloads. Numbers come from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day$3.75 vs $9.90
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$37.50 vs $99.00
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$84.00 vs $191
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $3.75 vs $9.90 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $37.50 vs $99.00 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $84.00 vs $191 per month, model A comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- Command R$0.125
- o4-mini$0.330
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- GPQA,81.4
Command R fits when…
- Cheap RAG
- Reliable tool-use
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 2.9× cheaper than o4-mini on output tokens.
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0).
o4-mini fits when…
- Strong reasoning at mid-tier price
- Fast for a thinking model
- Solid tool-use
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 128K for Command R.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Consider Command R+ (08-2024)
Cohere's flagship optimized for RAG and tool use in enterprise settings.
Frequently asked
Is Command R or o4-mini cheaper?
Command R is cheaper at $1.50 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $4.40 / 1M tokens for o4-mini.Which has the larger context window?
o4-mini accepts 200K tokens vs 128K for Command R.Is Command R or o4-mini better for coding?
Both Command R and o4-mini are competitive on coding benchmarks. See each model's individual spec page for HumanEval and SWE-bench scores where published. For an opinionated pick, consult our Best LLM for Coding ranking.Are either of these models open source?
Command R ships open weights (CC-BY-NC 4.0). o4-mini is API-only.When were Command R and o4-mini released?
Command R was released by Cohere on 2024-03-11. o4-mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-16.
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