GPT-4o vs OpenAI o4-mini
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
GPT-4o
OpenAI · May 2024
The 2024 omni-modal classic with native audio in and out; superseded at the frontier but still everywhere in production.
OpenAI o4-mini
80.9OpenAI · Apr 2025
A compact reasoning model that punched far above its price on math — 92.7% on AIME 2025 at $1.10 per million input tokens.
The verdict
OpenAI o4-mini wins 3 of the 3 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-4o. OpenAI o4-mini is about 2.3x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). OpenAI o4-mini also takes 200K of context versus 128K for GPT-4o.
Benchmark head-to-head 0–3
Specs & pricing
| GPT-4o | OpenAI o4-mini | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | — | 80.9 |
| Input price / 1M | $2.5 | $1.1 |
| Output price / 1M | $10 | $4.4 |
| Context window | 128K | 200K |
| Max output | 16K | 100K |
| Open weights | no | no |
| Reasoning model | no | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image, audio | text, image |
| Knowledge cutoff | Oct 2023 | May 2024 |
| Released | May 2024 | Apr 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $40.00 | $17.60 |
* 10M input + 1.5M output tokens per month at list prices, no caching. Green = better value on that row.
Frequently asked questions
- Which is better, GPT-4o or OpenAI o4-mini?
- OpenAI o4-mini wins 3 of the 3 benchmarks these models share, against 0 for GPT-4o. OpenAI o4-mini is about 2.3x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix). OpenAI o4-mini also takes 200K of context versus 128K for GPT-4o.
- Which is cheaper, GPT-4o or OpenAI o4-mini?
- GPT-4o costs $2.5/$10 per million input/output tokens, while OpenAI o4-mini costs $1.1/$4.4. For a typical workload of 10M input and 1.5M output tokens per month, that's $40.00 versus $17.60.
- Which model is better for coding, GPT-4o or OpenAI o4-mini?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — OpenAI o4-mini scores 68.1% versus 33.2% for GPT-4o, making OpenAI o4-mini the stronger pick for coding agents.