o3 vs Yi-Lightning
A complete head-to-head: pricing, context window, benchmarks, modality coverage, and openness, with a programmatic verdict synthesized from the underlying data.
Updated
o3 specs · Yi-Lightning specs- PriceYi-Lightning
Yi-Lightning is roughly 57.1× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $8.00 per 1M).
- Context windowo3
o3 accepts 200K tokens vs 16K, 12.5× 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 Yi-Lightning.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance o3 edges ahead, winning 2 of 5 categories against Yi-Lightning's 1. Yi-Lightning is roughly 57.1× cheaper on output tokens ($0.14 vs $8.00 per 1M). o3 accepts 200K tokens vs 16K, 12.5× 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, o3 handles text, vision while Yi-Lightning handles text, which can be the deciding factor before you even look at benchmarks. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
o3 is the newer of the two, released 6 months after Yi-Lightning, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. o3 is usually picked for reasoning and math workloads, while Yi-Lightning sees more deployments in chinese llm and cheapest llm. If pricing matters more than every last benchmark point, run the numbers in the calculator below before committing.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | o3 | Yi-Lightning |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | Other |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Oct 2024 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 16K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | $2.00 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | $8.00 / 1M tokens | $0.14 / 1M tokens |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-06 | , |
| 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$18.00 vs $0.630
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day$180 vs $6.30
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day$348 vs $21.84
Light usage, 100k in / 50k out per day: $18.00 vs $0.630 per month, model B comes out ahead. Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day: $180 vs $6.30 per month, model B comes out ahead. RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day: $348 vs $21.84 per month, model B comes out ahead.
Estimated spend for the listed models at your usage. Numbers are derived from each model's published per-million-token rates.
- o3$0.600
- Yi-Lightning$0.021
Benchmarks compared
Only sourced numbers. Where a benchmark is missing for one model we show the available value rather than fabricating the other.
- HumanEval95.0
- GPQA87.7
o3 fits when…
- Industry-leading reasoning depth at launch
- Strong on math, science, and abstract puzzles
- Tool-use during reasoning loops
- Long-context tasks, handles 200K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.
- Multimodal needs covering vision.
Yi-Lightning fits when…
- Cheap
- Strong Chinese
- Fast
- Cost-sensitive workloads, 57.1× cheaper than o3 on output tokens.
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 o3 or Yi-Lightning cheaper?
Yi-Lightning is cheaper at $0.14 / 1M tokens per million output tokens, vs $8.00 / 1M tokens for o3.Which has the larger context window?
o3 accepts 200K tokens vs 16K for Yi-Lightning.Is o3 or Yi-Lightning better for coding?
Both o3 and Yi-Lightning 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 o3 and Yi-Lightning released?
o3 was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-16. Yi-Lightning was released by Other on 2024-10-16.
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