GPT-4o vs GPT-4o mini
Pricing, context window, and benchmark comparison · Last updated April 2026
GPT-4o mini is cheaper than GPT-4o at $0.15/1M/1M vs $2.50/1M/1M input tokens — a 16.7x cost difference. GPT-4o scores higher on quality benchmarks (ELO 1286). Choose GPT-4o mini for cost-sensitive workloads; choose GPT-4o for maximum quality.
Which is cheaper: GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
GPT-4o mini is the cheaper option at $0.15/1M per 1M input tokens, compared to $2.50/1M for GPT-4o. That is a 16.7x cost difference on input tokens. Output pricing follows a similar pattern: GPT-4o charges $10.00/1M/1M vs $0.60/1M/1M for GPT-4o mini.
Which has better quality: GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
Based on LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings, GPT-4o achieves a higher ELO score (1286 vs 1272), suggesting stronger performance on open-ended tasks. GPT-4o excels at multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively. GPT-4o mini is known for extremely low cost — cheapest flagship-family model.
Which should you choose: GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
- → Multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively
- → Strong reasoning and instruction following
- → Excellent coding capabilities
- → Extremely low cost — cheapest flagship-family model
- → Fast inference
- → Good at structured data extraction
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper: GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
GPT-4o mini is cheaper at $0.15/1M per 1M input tokens, making it 16.7x more affordable.
Which has better quality: GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
GPT-4o scores higher on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena with an ELO of 1286, suggesting better overall quality for most tasks.
Which has a larger context window: GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
Both GPT-4o and GPT-4o mini have the same context window.
Should I choose GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini?
Choose GPT-4o mini if cost is the priority. Choose GPT-4o if benchmark quality is most important. Consider your specific use case: GPT-4o is best for coding and image-understanding, while GPT-4o mini excels at customer-support and data-extraction.
Is GPT-4o or GPT-4o mini open source?
GPT-4o is proprietary. GPT-4o mini is proprietary.