LLM·Dex
Newsletter

o3-mini vs SmolLM2 1.7B

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

Updated

o3-mini specs · SmolLM2 1.7B specs
Verdict by category
  • Priceo3-mini

    o3-mini publishes pricing ($4.40 / 1M output tokens) while SmolLM2 1.7B does not.

  • Context windowo3-mini

    o3-mini accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× 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.

  • OpennessSmolLM2 1.7B

    SmolLM2 1.7B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); o3-mini is API-only.

On balance o3-mini edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against SmolLM2 1.7B's 1. o3-mini publishes pricing ($4.40 / 1M output tokens) while SmolLM2 1.7B does not. o3-mini accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K, 24.4× 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), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. SmolLM2 1.7B ships open weights (Apache-2.0); o3-mini is API-only.

o3-mini is the newer of the two, released 3 months after SmolLM2 1.7B, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. o3-mini is usually picked for reasoning and math workloads, while SmolLM2 1.7B sees more deployments in on device and edge deployment. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.

Side-by-side specs

Speco3-miniSmolLM2 1.7B
ProviderOpenAIOther
ReleasedJan 2025Nov 2024
Modalitiestexttext
Context window200K tokens8.2K tokens
Max output,,
Input · 1M$1.10 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Output · 1M$4.40 / 1M tokensPricing not published
Knowledge cutoff2023-10,
Open weightsNoYes (Apache-2.0)
API availableYesNo

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$9.90 vs ,
  • Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$99.00 vs ,
  • RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$191 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).

Price calculator

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

  • o3-mini$0.330
  • SmolLM2 1.7BPricing unavailable

Benchmarks compared

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

o3-miniSmolLM2 1.7B
  • GPQA79.7
Pick o3-mini if

o3-mini fits when…

  • Reasoning at mid-tier cost
  • Fast for a thinking model
  • Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 8.2K for SmolLM2 1.7B.
Pick SmolLM2 1.7B if

SmolLM2 1.7B fits when…

  • Truly tiny
  • Apache-2.0
  • Runs on phones
  • Self-hosting and on-prem requirements, open weights (Apache-2.0).
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 specso3-mini vs GPT-5.5SmolLM2 1.7B vs GPT-5.5

Frequently asked

  • Is o3-mini or SmolLM2 1.7B 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?
    o3-mini accepts 200K tokens vs 8.2K for SmolLM2 1.7B.
  • Is o3-mini or SmolLM2 1.7B better for coding?
    Both o3-mini and SmolLM2 1.7B 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?
    SmolLM2 1.7B ships open weights (Apache-2.0). o3-mini is API-only.
  • When were o3-mini and SmolLM2 1.7B released?
    o3-mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-01-31. SmolLM2 1.7B was released by Other on 2024-11-01.
Friday digest

The week's AI launches, in your inbox.

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