LLM·Dex
Newsletter

GPT-4o mini vs Grok 4

A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.

Updated

GPT-4o mini specs · Grok 4 specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceGPT-4o mini

    GPT-4o mini is roughly 25.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.60 vs $15.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowGrok 4

    Grok 4 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× 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.

  • ModalitiesTie

    Both handle text, vision.

  • OpennessTie

    Both are closed-weight, API-only.

It's a genuine coin-flip between GPT-4o mini and Grok 4: 1 category wins each, with the rest tied. GPT-4o mini is roughly 25.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.60 vs $15.00 per 1M). Grok 4 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K, 2.0× the room for long documents and codebases.

No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores. Both target the same set of modalities (text, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both are closed-weight, API-only.

Grok 4 is the newer of the two, released 12 months after GPT-4o mini, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-4o mini is usually picked for customer support and summarization workloads, while Grok 4 sees more deployments in reasoning and research agent. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGPT-4o miniGrok 4
ProviderOpenAIxAI
ReleasedJul 2024Jul 2025
Modalitiestext, visiontext, vision
Context window128K tokens256K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$0.15 / 1M tokens$3.00 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$0.60 / 1M tokens$15.00 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff,2024-11
Open weightsNoNo
API availableYesYes

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$1.35 vs $31.50
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$13.50 vs $315
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$26.10 vs $540

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $1.35 vs $31.50 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $13.50 vs $315 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $26.10 vs $540 per month, model A comes out ahead.

Price calculator

Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.

  • GPT-4o mini$0.045
  • Grok 4$1.05

Benchmarks compared

Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.

GPT-4o miniGrok 4
  • MMLU82.0
  • GPQA,87.5
Pick GPT-4o mini if

GPT-4o mini fits when…

  • Cheap
  • Fast
  • Mature
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 25.0× cheaper than Grok 4 on output tokens.
Pick Grok 4 if

Grok 4 fits when…

  • Real-time X data access
  • Strong on benchmarks at launch
  • Less restrictive content policy than peers
  • Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o mini.
Don't want either?

Consider GPT-5.5

OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.

See GPT-5.5 specsGPT-4o mini vs GPT-5.5Grok 4 vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-4o mini or Grok 4 cheaper?
    GPT-4o mini is cheaper at $0.60 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $15.00 / 1M tokens for Grok 4.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Grok 4 accepts 256K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o mini.
  • Is GPT-4o mini or Grok 4 better for coding?
    Both GPT-4o mini and Grok 4 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?
    Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.
  • When were GPT-4o mini and Grok 4 released?
    GPT-4o mini was released by OpenAI on 2024-07-18. Grok 4 was released by xAI on 2025-07-09.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

One short email every Friday, new models, leaks, and quietly-shipped APIs you missed.