GPT-4 vs OpenAI o4-mini
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4
OpenAIOriginal GPT-4. Most expensive OpenAI model, largely superseded by newer options.
| Input | $30.00/M |
| Output | $60.00/M |
| Context | 8K tokens |
| Best For | Legacy applications requiring GPT-4 specifically |
| Benchmark | 68/100 |
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 | OpenAI o4-mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68 | 72 | o4-mini leads by 4pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 60 | 66 | o4-mini leads by 6pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 70 | 74 | o4-mini leads by 4pts |
| HumanEval | 86 | 92 | o4-mini leads by 6pts |
| BigCodeBench | 54 | 56 | o4-mini leads by 2pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4 | OpenAI o4-mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $2.85 | $0.17 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $2.68 (94%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $22.50 | $1.27 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $21.23 (94%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $112.50 | $6.33 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $106.17 (94%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $6.75 | $0.30 | OpenAI o4-mini saves $6.45 (96%) |
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 | 68 | $0.441/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
- + Original breakthrough model
- - Two generations behind
- - Expensive
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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