Jamba 1.5 Mini vs o3
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
Jamba 1.5 Mini specs · o3 specs- PriceJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 20.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $8.00 per 1M).
- Context windowJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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.
- Modalitieso3
o3 supports 2 modalities (text, vision) vs 1 for Jamba 1.5 Mini.
- OpennessJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); o3 is API-only.
On balance Jamba 1.5 Mini edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against o3's 1. Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 20.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $8.00 per 1M). Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 200K, 1.3× 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, Jamba 1.5 Mini handles text while o3 handles text, vision, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License); o3 is API-only.
o3 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after Jamba 1.5 Mini, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. Jamba 1.5 Mini is usually picked for long context and summarization workloads, while o3 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 | Jamba 1.5 Mini | o3 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | AI21 | OpenAI |
| Released | Aug 2024 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text | text, vision |
| Context window | 256K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $0.20 / 1M tokens | $2.00 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $0.40 / 1M tokens | $8.00 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | , | 2024-06 |
| Open weights | Yes (Jamba Open Model License) | 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$1.20 vs $18.00
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$12.00 vs $180
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$32.40 vs $348
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $1.20 vs $18.00 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $12.00 vs $180 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $32.40 vs $348 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.
- Jamba 1.5 Mini$0.040
- o3$0.600
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- HumanEval,95.0
- GPQA,87.7
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, 20.0× cheaper than o3 on output tokens.
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
o3 fits when…
- Industry-leading reasoning depth at launch
- Strong on math, science, and abstract puzzles
- Tool-use during reasoning loops
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Consider Jamba 1.5 Large
AI21's hybrid SSM-Transformer with a 256k context window, strong on long-doc tasks.
Frequently asked
Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or o3 cheaper?
Jamba 1.5 Mini is cheaper at $0.40 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $8.00 / 1M tokens for o3.Which has the larger context window?
Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for o3.Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or o3 better for coding?
Both Jamba 1.5 Mini and o3 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). o3 is API-only.When were Jamba 1.5 Mini and o3 released?
Jamba 1.5 Mini was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22. o3 was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-16.
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