AI model comparison
o3 vs o4 Mini
Pricing, context window, benchmarks, and features compared side by side. Or skip the guesswork and send one prompt to both.
OpenAI
o3
o3 is a well-rounded and powerful model across domains. It sets a new standard for math, science, coding, and visual reasoning tasks.
- Input / 1M
- $2
- Output / 1M
- $8
- Context
- 200K
OpenAI
o4 Mini
OpenAI o4-mini is a compact reasoning model in the o-series, optimized for fast, cost-efficient performance while retaining strong multimodal and agentic capabilities.
- Input / 1M
- $1.10
- Output / 1M
- $4.40
- Context
- 200K
At a glance
Quick verdict
How the two models stack up on the things people ask about most.
Lower price
o4 Mini
1.8x cheaper for a typical chat
Higher intelligence score
o3
20.2 vs 16.7 on Artificial Analysis
Larger context window
Tie
200K vs 200K tokens
Newer release
o3
Released April 16, 2025
Benchmarks
Benchmark scores
Independent scores from Artificial Analysis. Higher is better.
Intelligence index
o320.2o4 Mini16.7Coding index
o3Not availableo4 MiniNot availableAgentic index
o3Not availableo4 MiniNot availablePricing
o3 vs o4 Mini API pricing
Per-token API rates. Cheaper option highlighted.
| Metric | o3 | o4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input tokensPer 1M tokens | $2 | $1.10 |
| Output tokensPer 1M tokens | $8 | $4.40 |
| Cached input (read)Per 1M tokens | $0.50 | $0.28 |
| Cache writePer 1M tokens | Not available | Not available |
| Web searchPer request | $0.01 | $0.01 |
What it costs in practice
Estimated cost per 1,000 requests at standard rates. Coding and long-document figures also show the cost when the input is already cached.
Chat message
2K in, 500 out
o3$8o4 Mini$4.40Coding task
30K in, 4K out
o3$92$47 cachedo4 Mini$50.60$25.85 cachedLong document summary
150K in, 2K out
o3$316$91 cachedo4 Mini$173.80$50.05 cachedSpecs
Context window and capabilities
How much each model can read, how much it can write, and what it accepts as input.
| Metric | o3 | o4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens |
| Max output | 100K tokens | 100K tokens |
| Input types | File, Image, Text | File, Image, Text |
| Output types | Text | Text |
| Reasoning effort levels | Not available | Not available |
| Default reasoning effort | Not available | Not available |
| Release date | April 16, 2025 | April 16, 2025 |
Features
Supported features
API features available for each model.
| Metric | o3 | o4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Tool calling | Supported | Supported |
| Structured outputs | Supported | Supported |
| JSON mode | Supported | Supported |
| Reasoning | Supported | Supported |
| Temperature | Not supported | Not supported |
| Stop sequences | Not supported | Not supported |
| Deterministic seed | Supported | Supported |
| Verbosity control | Not supported | Not supported |
Keep exploring
More on these models
Other head-to-heads, the full model page, and the alternatives list for each model.
o4 MiniView full model details- o4 Mini vs GPT-5.4 Mini
- o4 Mini vs GPT-5 Mini
- o4 Mini vs Claude Sonnet 4
- o4 Mini vs Claude Haiku 4.5
- o4 Mini vs Gemini 2.5 Pro
- o4 Mini vs Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite
- o4 Mini vs Gemini 2.5 Flash
- o4 Mini vs Kimi K2 0905
- o4 Mini vs o1
- o4 Mini vs Mistral Medium 3.5
- o4 Mini vs GPT-4.1
- o4 Mini vs o3 Mini
- o4 Mini vs o3 Mini High
Our take
o4 Mini is 1.8x cheaper for a typical chat. o3 scores higher on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index (20.2 vs 16.7). The right pick depends on your workload, so the quickest way to settle it is to send the same prompt to both and compare.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is o3 or o4 Mini cheaper?
o4 Mini is cheaper for a typical chat (2K input tokens and 500 output tokens). o4 Mini costs $1.10 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens, while o3 costs $2 per 1M input tokens and $8 per 1M output tokens.
Which has a bigger context window, o3 or o4 Mini?
o3 supports up to 200K tokens of context, compared with 200K for o4 Mini.
Is o3 smarter than o4 Mini?
On the Artificial Analysis Intelligence Index, o3 scores 20.2 and o4 Mini scores 16.7, putting o3 ahead. Benchmarks don't capture everything, so the best test is running your own prompts through both.
Can I use o3 and o4 Mini at the same time?
Yes. Shortcut Chat sends one prompt to multiple models at once, so you can see o3 and o4 Mini answer side by side and keep the better response.
Why choose? Ask both.
Send one prompt to o3 and o4 Mini at the same time. Compare the answers side by side and keep the best one.