GPT-4 Turbo vs OpenAI o4-mini
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4 Turbo
OpenAIPrevious generation high-performance model. Good for complex reasoning tasks.
| Input | $10.00/M |
| Output | $30.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Complex reasoning, data extraction, analysis |
| Benchmark | 70/100 |
OpenAI o4-mini
OpenAIUpdated mini reasoning model. Similar pricing to o3-mini with updated capabilities.
| Input | $1.10/M |
| Output | $4.40/M |
| Context | 200K tokens |
| Best For | General reasoning, coding tasks |
| Benchmark | 72/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-4 Turbo | OpenAI o4-mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 70 | 72 | o4-mini leads by 2pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 64 | 66 | o4-mini leads by 2pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 72 | 74 | o4-mini leads by 2pts |
| HumanEval | 88 | 92 | o4-mini leads by 4pts |
| BigCodeBench | 56 | 56 | GPT-4 Turbo leads by 0pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4 Turbo | OpenAI o4-mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $1.25 | $0.17 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $1.08 (86%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $9.50 | $1.27 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $8.23 (87%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $47.50 | $6.33 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $41.17 (87%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $2.50 | $0.30 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $2.20 (88%) |
Value Analysis (Price per Benchmark Score Point)
Lower is better — how much you pay for each point of benchmark performance.
| Model | Overall Score | Price per Score Point | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4 Turbo | 70 | $0.133/pt | Higher cost per point |
| OpenAI o4-mini | 72 | $0.015/pt | Better value |
OpenAI o4-mini delivers the best value at $0.015 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-4 Turbo
- + Proven model
- + Large context
- - Superseded by GPT-4o
OpenAI o4-mini
- + Improved reasoning at mini price
- - New model, limited data
Verdict
OpenAI o4-mini wins on both price and performance — $1.10/M input with a benchmark score of 72/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
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Claude Opus 4
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Claude 3.5 Sonnet
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Claude 3.5 Haiku
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Claude 3 Opus
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Claude 3 Sonnet
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