Jamba 1.5 Mini 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
Jamba 1.5 Mini specs · o4-mini specs- PriceJamba 1.5 Mini
Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 11.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $4.40 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.
- Modalitieso4-mini
o4-mini 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); o4-mini is API-only.
On balance Jamba 1.5 Mini edges ahead, winning 3 of 5 categories against o4-mini's 1. Jamba 1.5 Mini is roughly 11.0× cheaper on output tokens ($0.40 vs $4.40 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 o4-mini 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); o4-mini is API-only.
o4-mini 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 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 | Jamba 1.5 Mini | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | $1.10 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $0.40 / 1M tokens | $4.40 / 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 $9.90
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$12.00 vs $99.00
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$32.40 vs $191
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $1.20 vs $9.90 per month, model A comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $12.00 vs $99.00 per month, model A comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $32.40 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.
- Jamba 1.5 Mini$0.040
- 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
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, 11.0× cheaper than o4-mini on output tokens.
- Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Jamba Open Model License).
o4-mini fits when…
- Strong reasoning at mid-tier price
- Fast for a thinking model
- Solid tool-use
- 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 o4-mini cheaper?
Jamba 1.5 Mini is cheaper at $0.40 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $4.40 / 1M tokens for o4-mini.Which has the larger context window?
Jamba 1.5 Mini accepts 256K tokens vs 200K for o4-mini.Is Jamba 1.5 Mini or o4-mini better for coding?
Both Jamba 1.5 Mini 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?
Jamba 1.5 Mini ships open weights (Jamba Open Model License). o4-mini is API-only.When were Jamba 1.5 Mini and o4-mini released?
Jamba 1.5 Mini was released by AI21 on 2024-08-22. o4-mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-16.
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