o4 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
o4 specs · o4-mini specs- Priceo4-mini
o4-mini publishes pricing ($4.40 / 1M output tokens) while o4 does not.
- Context windowTie
Both ship a 200K-token context window.
- BenchmarksTie
No directly comparable public benchmarks are available for both models, check the spec sheets for individual scores.
- ModalitiesTie
Both handle text, vision.
- OpennessTie
Both are closed-weight, API-only.
On balance o4-mini edges ahead, winning 1 of 5 categories against o4's 0. o4-mini publishes pricing ($4.40 / 1M output tokens) while o4 does not. Both ship a 200K-token context window.
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, vision), so the deciding factors are price, context, and raw quality. Both are closed-weight, API-only.
o4 is the newer of the two, released 8 months after o4-mini, which usually means a more recent knowledge cutoff and updated safety post-training. o4 is usually picked for reasoning and math 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 | o4 | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Released | Dec 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | , | , |
| Input · 1M | Pricing not published | $1.10 / 1M tokens |
| Output · 1M | Pricing not published | $4.40 / 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, vs $9.90
- Heavy usage, 1M in / 500k out per day, vs $99.00
- RAG workload, 5M in / 200k out per day, vs $191
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.
- o4Pricing unavailable
- 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
o4 fits when…
- Exceptional performance on hard math and reasoning benchmarks
- Good at multi-step planning and verification
- Strong scientific reasoning
o4-mini fits when…
- Strong reasoning at mid-tier price
- Fast for a thinking model
- Solid tool-use
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 o4 or o4-mini 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?
Both o4 and o4-mini ship a 200K-token context window.Is o4 or o4-mini better for coding?
Both o4 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?
Neither model ships open weights, both are accessible only via their respective providers' APIs.When were o4 and o4-mini released?
o4 was released by OpenAI on 2025-12-15. o4-mini was released by OpenAI on 2025-04-16.
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