Grok 4.5 vs o4-mini
Cost and capability comparison. For a sample workload of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens across 100,000 requests/month, o4-mini is cheaper by about $170.00/month.
| Grok 4.5 | o4-mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | ||
| Arena · Overall(LMArena Elo — higher is better) | 1450✓ | 1382 |
| Arena rank (overall) | #27✓ | #84 |
| Arena · Coding | 1555✓ | 1385 |
| Arena · Math & reasoning | 1445✓ | 1400 |
| Arena · Agentic / tool use | 1420✓ | 1372 |
| Score evidence | Measured | Measured |
| Pricing (USD / 1M tokens) | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $1.10✓ |
| Output | $6.00 | $4.40✓ |
| Cached input (read) | $0.3000 | $0.2750✓ |
| Cache write | — | — |
| Blended(3:1 input:output blend) | $3.00 | $1.93✓ |
| Specs & capabilities | ||
| Provider | xAI | OpenAI |
| Context window | 500K (500,000)✓ | 200K (200,000) |
| Max output | — | 100,000✓ |
| Modalities | text | text, image |
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Prompt caching | Yes | Yes |
| Batch pricing | No | Yes |
| Tokenizer | approx | o200k_base |
| Release date | — | — |
| Status | ga | ga |
Intelligence scores are community Arena ratings from LMArena / arena.ai, used under CC BY 4.0. Snapshot last refreshed 18 September 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.
Compare on your own workload
Grok 4.5 and o4-mini are pre-loaded. Adjust the tokens and monthly volume to see which is cheaper for your usage.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Grok 4.5 or o4-mini?
For a workload of 1,000 input and 500 output tokens over 100,000 requests/month, o4-mini is cheaper, costing about $330.00/month versus $500.00/month.
What is the context window of Grok 4.5 and o4-mini?
Grok 4.5 supports 500,000 tokens, while o4-mini supports 200,000 tokens.
Estimates for planning only. Verify current pricing with each provider.