o4-mini vs Llama 4 Scout
Pricing, context window, and benchmark comparison · Last updated April 2026
Llama 4 Scout is cheaper than o4-mini at $0.08/1M/1M vs $1.10/1M/1M input tokens — a 13.8x cost difference. o4-mini scores higher on quality benchmarks (ELO 1350). Choose Llama 4 Scout for cost-sensitive workloads; choose o4-mini for maximum quality.
Which is cheaper: o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
Llama 4 Scout is the cheaper option at $0.08/1M per 1M input tokens, compared to $1.10/1M for o4-mini. That is a 13.8x cost difference on input tokens. Output pricing follows a similar pattern: o4-mini charges $4.40/1M/1M vs $0.30/1M/1M for Llama 4 Scout.
Which has better quality: o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
Based on LMSYS Chatbot Arena rankings, o4-mini achieves a higher ELO score (1350 vs 1280), suggesting stronger performance on open-ended tasks. o4-mini excels at cheapest reasoning model in the openai lineup. Llama 4 Scout is known for runs on a single h100 — cheapest self-host target in the llama 4 family.
Which should you choose: o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
- → Cheapest reasoning model in the OpenAI lineup
- → Strong performance on code and math for the price
- → 200K context window
- → Runs on a single H100 — cheapest self-host target in the Llama 4 family
- → 10M token context window — industry-leading for long context
- → Open weights
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper: o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
Llama 4 Scout is cheaper at $0.08/1M per 1M input tokens, making it 13.8x more affordable.
Which has better quality: o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
o4-mini 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: o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
Llama 4 Scout has a larger context window at 10000K tokens.
Should I choose o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout?
Choose Llama 4 Scout if cost is the priority. Choose o4-mini if benchmark quality is most important. Consider your specific use case: o4-mini is best for reasoning and coding, while Llama 4 Scout excels at long-context and low-cost.
Is o4-mini or Llama 4 Scout open source?
o4-mini is proprietary. Llama 4 Scout is open source.