GPT-4o vs GPT-4.1
Performance benchmarks + pricing comparison — updated April 2026
GPT-4o
OpenAIOpenAI's flagship multimodal model. Strong coding and reasoning at competitive pricing.
| Input | $2.50/M |
| Output | $10.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | General coding, multimodal tasks, chatbots |
| Benchmark | 75/100 |
GPT-4.1
OpenAIUpdated GPT-4 generation with improved instruction following and reduced hallucination. Better coding accuracy than GPT-4o.
| Input | $2.00/M |
| Output | $8.00/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Production coding, API development, complex instructions |
| Benchmark | 80/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | GPT-4.1 | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75 | 80 | GPT-4.1 leads by 5pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 70 | 76 | GPT-4.1 leads by 6pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 78 | 82 | GPT-4.1 leads by 4pts |
| HumanEval | 90 | 94 | GPT-4.1 leads by 4pts |
| BigCodeBench | 62 | 68 | GPT-4.1 leads by 6pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4o | GPT-4.1 | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.41 | $0.31 | GPT-4.1 saves $0.10 (24%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $3.06 | $2.30 | GPT-4.1 saves $0.76 (25%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $15.31 | $11.50 | GPT-4.1 saves $3.81 (25%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.78 | $0.55 | GPT-4.1 saves $0.23 (30%) |
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-4o | 75 | $0.033/pt | Better value |
| GPT-4.1 | 80 | $0.063/pt | Higher cost per point |
GPT-4o delivers the best value at $0.033 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-4o
- + Strong general-purpose
- + Good multimodal
- - Less consistent on coding than Claude
GPT-4.1
- + Latest GPT model
- + Strong across all benchmarks
- - Premium pricing
Verdict
GPT-4.1 wins on both price and performance — $2.00/M input with a benchmark score of 80/100.
For most developers, this is the clear choice between these two models.
Compare with Other Models
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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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