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GPT-4o vs Jamba 1.5 Mini

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 specs · Jamba 1.5 Mini specs
Verdict by category
  • PriceJamba 1.5 Mini

    Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 25.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $10.00 per 1M).

  • Context windowJamba 1.5 Mini

    Jamba 1.5 Mini 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.

  • ModalitiesGPT-4o

    GPT-4o supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 1 for Jamba 1.5 Mini.

  • OpennessJamba 1.5 Mini

    Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); GPT-4o is API-only.

On balance Jamba 1.5 Mini edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against GPT-4o's 1. Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 25.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $10.00 per 1M). Jamba 1.5 Mini 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. They differ in modality coverage, GPT-4o handles text, vision, audio while Jamba 1.5 Mini handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); GPT-4o is API-only.

Jamba 1.5 Mini is the newer of the two, released 3 months after GPT-4o, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-4o is usually picked for chatbots and vision workloads, while Jamba 1.5 Mini sees more deployments in long context and summarization. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

SpecGPT-4oJamba 1.5 Mini
ProviderOpenAIAI21
ReleasedMay 2024Aug 2024
Modalitiestext, vision, audiotext
Context window128K tokens256K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$2.50 / 1M tokens$0.20 / 1M tokens
Output · 1M$10.00 / 1M tokens$0.40 / 1M tokens
Knowledge cutoff2023-10,
Open weightsNoYes (Jamba Open Model License)
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$22.50 vs $1.20
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$225 vs $12.00
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$435 vs $32.40

Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $22.50 vs $1.20 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $225 vs $12.00 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $435 vs $32.40 per month, model B 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$0.750
  • Jamba 1.5 Mini$0.040

Benchmarks compared

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

GPT-4oJamba 1.5 Mini
  • MMLU88.7
  • HumanEval90.2
Pick GPT-4o if

GPT-4o fits when…

  • Native multimodal
  • Mature SDK and tooling
  • Multimodal needs covering vision, audio.
Pick Jamba 1.5 Mini if

Jamba 1.5 Mini fits when…

  • 256k context at small-model price
  • Hybrid SSM-Transformer is efficient on long inputs
  • Open weights for self-hosting
  • Cost-sensitive workloads, 25.0× cheaper than GPT-4o on output tokens.
  • Long-context tasks, handles 256K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.
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 vs GPT-5.5Jamba 1.5 Mini vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is GPT-4o or Jamba 1.5 Mini cheaper?
    Jamba 1.5 Mini is cheaper at $0.40 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $10.00 / 1M tokens for GPT-4o.
  • Which has the larger context window?
    Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 128K for GPT-4o.
  • Is GPT-4o or Jamba 1.5 Mini better for coding?
    Both GPT-4o and Jamba 1.5 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?
    Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). GPT-4o is API-only.
  • When were GPT-4o and Jamba 1.5 Mini released?
    GPT-4o was released by OpenAI on 2024-05-13. Jamba 1.5 Mini was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22.
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