GPT-4o vs OpenAI o1-mini
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 |
OpenAI o1-mini
OpenAICost-effective reasoning model. Good for coding tasks that require logical reasoning.
| Input | $1.10/M |
| Output | $4.40/M |
| Context | 128K tokens |
| Best For | Coding logic, debugging, algorithm design |
| Benchmark | 70/100 |
Benchmark Performance Comparison
Third-party benchmark scores — higher is better. Data sourced from SWE-bench, LiveCodeBench, HumanEval, and BigCodeBench.
| Benchmark | GPT-4o | OpenAI o1-mini | Leader |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75 | 70 | GPT-4o leads by 5pts |
| SWE-bench Verified | 70 | 64 | GPT-4o leads by 6pts |
| LiveCodeBench | 78 | 72 | GPT-4o leads by 6pts |
| HumanEval | 90 | 90 | GPT-4o leads by 0pts |
| BigCodeBench | 62 | 54 | GPT-4o leads by 8pts |
Cost Comparison by Scenario
Estimated cost per project with 30% cache hit rate. Actual costs may vary based on usage patterns.
| Scenario | GPT-4o | OpenAI o1-mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Script (1K lines) | $0.41 | $0.17 | OpenAI o1-mini saves $0.24 (58%) |
| Medium Feature (10K lines) | $3.06 | $1.27 | OpenAI o1-mini saves $1.80 (59%) |
| Large Project (50K lines) | $15.31 | $6.33 | OpenAI o1-mini saves $8.99 (59%) |
| Code Review (5K lines) | $0.78 | $0.30 | OpenAI o1-mini saves $0.48 (61%) |
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 | Higher cost per point |
| OpenAI o1-mini | 70 | $0.016/pt | Better value |
OpenAI o1-mini delivers the best value at $0.016 per score point.
Strengths & Weaknesses
GPT-4o
- + Strong general-purpose
- + Good multimodal
- - Less consistent on coding than Claude
OpenAI o1-mini
- + Reasoning at lower cost
- + Good for competitive programming
- - Slower than standard models
Verdict
OpenAI o1-mini is cheaper at $1.10/M, but GPT-4o scores higher on benchmarks (75 vs 70).
Choose OpenAI o1-mini for cost-sensitive projects, GPT-4o when performance matters most.
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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