Cheaper alternatives to GPT-4o
GPT-4o scores 1355 on the overall Arena and costs about $875.00/month at 100,000 calls (1,500 in / 500 out). Here are models that match or beat it on quality for less.
| Step 3.5 Flash | 1404 | $30.00 | $845.00/mo | StepFun |
| DeepSeek V4 Flash | 1430 | $35.00 | $840.00/mo | DeepSeek |
| MiMo-V2.5 | 1427 | $35.00 | $840.00/mo | Xiaomi |
| MiMo-V2-Flash | 1395 | $35.00 | $840.00/mo | Xiaomi |
| MiMo-V2-Omni | 1422 | $35.00 | $840.00/mo | Xiaomi |
| DeepSeek V3.2 | 1420 | $63.00 | $812.00/mo | DeepSeek |
| Hunyuan Hy3 | 1444 | $70.00 | $805.00/mo | Tencent |
| Llama 4 Maverick | 1360 | $75.50 | $799.50/mo | Meta |
| GLM-4.5-Air | 1383 | $85.00 | $790.00/mo | Z.ai (Zhipu AI) |
| GLM-4.6V | 1375 | $90.00 | $785.00/mo | Z.ai (Zhipu AI) |
| GPT-5.4 nano | 1373 | $92.50 | $782.50/mo | OpenAI |
| MiniMax-M3 | 1421 | $105.00 | $770.00/mo | MiniMax |
Intelligence scores are community Arena ratings from LMArena / arena.ai, used under CC BY 4.0. Snapshot last refreshed 28 July 2026. Scores are a relative signal, not an absolute measure of capability. A Measured score was voted on directly; an Estimated score is inherited from an identical base model (a regional/creator-prefixed hosting duplicate). See our methodology.
FAQ
Is there a cheaper model as good as GPT-4o?
Yes. Step 3.5 Flash matches or beats GPT-4o on the overall Arena leaderboard and costs about $30.00/month versus $875.00/month at a typical volume of 100,000 calls — saving roughly $845.00/month.
How is 'as good' defined?
We only list models with an overall Arena score at or above GPT-4o's (1355). Arena scores are community preference ratings, not a single benchmark — confirm the alternative on your own task before switching.
Cite / link to this page
You’re welcome to reference this page and its figures with attribution and a link back.
https://aicalculatorpro.com/alternatives/gpt-4o/<a href="https://aicalculatorpro.com/alternatives/gpt-4o/">Cheaper alternatives to GPT-4o — AI Calculator Pro</a>