o1 vs GPT-4o
Pricing, context window, and benchmark comparison · Last updated April 2026
GPT-4o is cheaper than o1 at $2.50/1M/1M vs $15.00/1M/1M input tokens — a 6.0x cost difference. o1 scores higher on quality benchmarks (ELO 1350). Choose GPT-4o for cost-sensitive workloads; choose o1 for maximum quality.
Which is cheaper: o1 or GPT-4o?
GPT-4o is the cheaper option at $2.50/1M per 1M input tokens, compared to $15.00/1M for o1. That is a 6.0x cost difference on input tokens. Output pricing follows a similar pattern: o1 charges $60.00/1M/1M vs $10.00/1M/1M for GPT-4o.
Which has better quality: o1 or GPT-4o?
Based on LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings, o1 achieves a higher ELO score (1350 vs 1286), suggesting stronger performance on open-ended tasks. o1 excels at best-in-class reasoning on complex problems. GPT-4o is known for multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively.
Which should you choose: o1 or GPT-4o?
- → Best-in-class reasoning on complex problems
- → Exceptional at math, science, and formal logic
- → Large 200K context window
- → Multimodal: handles text, images, and audio natively
- → Strong reasoning and instruction following
- → Excellent coding capabilities
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper: o1 or GPT-4o?
GPT-4o is cheaper at $2.50/1M per 1M input tokens, making it 6.0x more affordable.
Which has better quality: o1 or GPT-4o?
o1 scores higher on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena with an ELO of 1350, suggesting better overall quality for most tasks.
Which has a larger context window: o1 or GPT-4o?
o1 has a larger context window at 200K tokens.
Should I choose o1 or GPT-4o?
Choose GPT-4o if cost is the priority. Choose o1 if benchmark quality is most important. Consider your specific use case: o1 is best for reasoning and math, while GPT-4o excels at coding and image-understanding.
Is o1 or GPT-4o open source?
o1 is proprietary. GPT-4o is proprietary.