GPT-5 vs o4
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
GPT-5 specs · o4 specs- PriceGPT-5
GPT-5 publishes pricing ($10.00 / 1M output tokens) while o4 does not.
- Context windowGPT-5
GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 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-5
GPT-5 supports 3 modalities (text, vision, audio) vs 2 for o4.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance GPT-5 edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against o4's 0. GPT-5 publishes pricing ($10.00 / 1M output tokens) while o4 does not. GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 200K, 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-5 handles text, vision, audio while o4 handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
o4 is the newer of the two, released 4 months after GPT-5, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. GPT-5 is usually picked for coding llm and agents workloads, while o4 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 | GPT-5 | o4 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Released | Aug 2025 | Dec 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision, audio | text, vision |
| Context window | 400K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | 128K tokens | , |
| Input · 1M | $1.25 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Output · 1M | $10.00 / 1M tokens | Pricing not published |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-09 | , |
| Open weights | No | 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$18.75 vs ,
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$188 vs ,
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$248 vs ,
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates). RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: pricing not directly comparable (one or both models are missing public per-token rates).
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- GPT-5$0.625
- o4Pricing unavailable
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- MMLU91.4
- HumanEval96.2
- GPQA89.4
- SWE-bench Verified74.9
GPT-5 fits when…
- Unified model, reasoning routed automatically per query
- Excellent tool-use and JSON-mode discipline
- Strong agent performance on SWE-bench Verified
- Long-context tasks, handles 400K tokens vs 200K for o4.
- Multimodal needs covering audio.
o4 fits when…
- Exceptional performance on hard math and reasoning benchmarks
- Good at multi-step planning and verification
- Strong scientific reasoning
Consider GPT-5.5
OpenAI's mid-cycle GPT-5 refresh, improved reasoning, tool use, and multimodal grounding over the 2025 launch.
Frequently asked
Is GPT-5 or o4 cheaper?
Per-token pricing isn't published for at least one of these models, check each model's spec page for current rates.Which has the larger context window?
GPT-5 accepts 400K tokens vs 200K for o4.Is GPT-5 or o4 better for coding?
Both GPT-5 and o4 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-5 and o4 released?
GPT-5 was released by OpenAI on 2025-08-07. o4 was released by OpenAI on 2025-12-15.
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