OpenAI o3 vs OpenAI o4-mini
Benchmarks, API pricing and specs, head to head. Data updated 2026-06-10.
OpenAI o3
68.9OpenAI · Apr 2025
OpenAI's dedicated 2025 reasoning model that pioneered thinking-with-images and agentic tool use within chain-of-thought.
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 o3 wins 3 of the 4 benchmarks these models share, against 1 for OpenAI o4-mini. OpenAI o4-mini is about 1.8x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix).
Benchmark head-to-head 3–1
Specs & pricing
| OpenAI o3 | OpenAI o4-mini | |
|---|---|---|
| modhub Index | 68.9 | 80.9 |
| Input price / 1M | $2 | $1.1 |
| Output price / 1M | $8 | $4.4 |
| Context window | 200K | 200K |
| Max output | 100K | 100K |
| Open weights | no | no |
| Reasoning model | yes | yes |
| Multimodal input | text, image | text, image |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | May 2024 |
| Released | Apr 2025 | Apr 2025 |
| Example monthly cost* | $32.00 | $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, OpenAI o3 or OpenAI o4-mini?
- OpenAI o3 wins 3 of the 4 benchmarks these models share, against 1 for OpenAI o4-mini. OpenAI o4-mini is about 1.8x cheaper per blended million tokens (3:1 input:output mix).
- Which is cheaper, OpenAI o3 or OpenAI o4-mini?
- OpenAI o3 costs $2/$8 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 $32.00 versus $17.60.
- Which model is better for coding, OpenAI o3 or OpenAI o4-mini?
- On SWE-bench Verified — the standard agentic-coding benchmark — OpenAI o3 scores 69.1% versus 68.1% for OpenAI o4-mini, making OpenAI o3 the stronger pick for coding agents.