Last verified 2025-09-22 (left) · 2025-09-22 (right)

GPT-4o mini vs o4-mini — Pricing & Capability Comparison

GPT-4o mini charges $0.15 per million input tokens and $0.60 per million output tokens. o4-mini comes in at $1.10 / $4.40. Context windows span 128K vs 200K tokens respectively.

TL;DR — Quick Comparison

✓GPT-4o mini is cheaper overall: $0.75 per 1M tokens (in+out) vs $5.50 for o4-mini — saves $4.75 per 1M tokens
✓Input pricing: GPT-4o mini $0.15/1M vs o4-mini $1.10/1M
✓Output pricing: GPT-4o mini $0.60/1M vs o4-mini $4.40/1M
✓Context window: o4-mini offers more (200K vs 128K)
✓Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern

Input price (per 1M)

GPT-4o mini

$0.15

o4-mini

$1.10

GPT-4o mini leads here

Output price (per 1M)

GPT-4o mini

$0.60

o4-mini

$4.40

GPT-4o mini leads here

Context window

GPT-4o mini

128,000 tokens

o4-mini

200,000 tokens

o4-mini leads here

Cached input

GPT-4o mini

Not published

o4-mini

Not published

No published data

Which one should you choose?

Skip the spreadsheet if you just need the practical takeaway. Use these rules when deciding between GPT-4o mini and o4-mini.

Choose GPT-4o mini if input tokens dominate your bill

GPT-4o mini has the lower input rate, which usually matters most for chat, RAG, classification, and long-prompt workflows where prompt volume stays much larger than generated output.

Choose GPT-4o mini if you generate long answers

GPT-4o mini is cheaper on output tokens, so it tends to win for report generation, coding assistance, reasoning traces, and any workflow where completions are long.

Choose o4-mini if context size is the blocker

o4-mini offers the larger published context window, which is more important than small pricing differences when you need to fit large files, long chats, or multi-document prompts into one request.

Cost comparison for 10K-token workloads

Side-by-side pricing for identical workloads (10,000 total tokens per request) across different distributions.

Scenario	GPT-4o mini	o4-mini
Balanced conversation 50% input · 50% output	$0.0037	$0.0275
Input-heavy workflow 80% input · 20% output	$0.0024	$0.0176
Generation heavy 30% input · 70% output	$0.0046	$0.0341
Cached system prompt 90% cached input · 10% fresh output	$0.0019	$0.0143

Frequently asked questions

Which is cheaper: GPT-4o mini or o4-mini?

GPT-4o mini is cheaper for input tokens at $0.15 per 1M tokens compared to $1.10. For output, GPT-4o mini costs $0.60 per 1M tokens versus $4.40 for o4-mini.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for GPT-4o mini?

GPT-4o mini pricing: $0.15 per 1M input tokens and $0.60 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 128,000 tokens.

What is the cost per 1M tokens for o4-mini?

o4-mini pricing: $1.10 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 200,000 tokens.

How much does it cost per 1K tokens?

Per 1K tokens: GPT-4o mini costs $0.0001 input / $0.0006 output. o4-mini costs $0.0011 input / $0.0044 output. This is useful for calculating small-scale usage costs.

Which model supports a larger context window?

o4-mini offers 200,000 tokens (200K) versus 128K for GPT-4o mini.

What is the estimated monthly cost for typical usage?

For a typical workload of 10M input + 2M output tokens per month: GPT-4o mini would cost approximately $2.70, while o4-mini would cost $19.80. GPT-4o mini is more economical for this usage pattern.

Do these models support prompt caching?

GPT-4o mini does not publish cached pricing. o4-mini does not publish cached pricing.

Which model is best for my use case?

Choose GPT-4o mini for cost-sensitive applications with high input volume. Choose o4-mini if you need 200K context for long documents or conversations. Consider prompt caching if you have repeated context. Use our token calculator to model your specific usage pattern.