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