GPT-4o vs o3
Pricing, context window, and benchmark comparison · Last updated April 2026
GPT-4o is cheaper than o3 at $2.50/1M/1M vs $10.00/1M/1M input tokens — a 4.0x cost difference. o3 scores higher on quality benchmarks (ELO 1380). Choose GPT-4o for cost-sensitive workloads; choose o3 for maximum quality.
Which is cheaper: GPT-4o or o3?
GPT-4o is the cheaper option at $2.50/1M per 1M input tokens, compared to $10.00/1M for o3. That is a 4.0x cost difference on input tokens. Output pricing follows a similar pattern: GPT-4o charges $10.00/1M/1M vs $40.00/1M/1M for o3.
Which has better quality: GPT-4o or o3?
Based on LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings, o3 achieves a higher ELO score (1380 vs 1286), suggesting stronger performance on open-ended tasks. GPT-4o excels at multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively. o3 is known for highest reasoning benchmark scores of any model.
Which should you choose: GPT-4o or o3?
- → Multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively
- → Strong reasoning and instruction following
- → Excellent coding capabilities
- → Highest reasoning benchmark scores of any model
- → Better cost-efficiency than o1 at similar quality
- → Superior at agentic and multi-step tasks
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper: GPT-4o or o3?
GPT-4o is cheaper at $2.50/1M per 1M input tokens, making it 4.0x more affordable.
Which has better quality: GPT-4o or o3?
o3 scores higher on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena with an ELO of 1380, suggesting better overall quality for most tasks.
Which has a larger context window: GPT-4o or o3?
o3 has a larger context window at 200K tokens.
Should I choose GPT-4o or o3?
Choose GPT-4o if cost is the priority. Choose o3 if benchmark quality is most important. Consider your specific use case: GPT-4o is best for coding and image-understanding, while o3 excels at reasoning and math.
Is GPT-4o or o3 open source?
GPT-4o is proprietary. o3 is proprietary.