o3 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 $270.00/month.
| o3 | o4-mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence | ||
| Arena · Overall(LMArena Elo — higher is better) | 1422✓ | 1382 |
| Arena rank (overall) | #54✓ | #84 |
| Arena · Coding | 1428✓ | 1385 |
| Arena · Math & reasoning | 1435✓ | 1400 |
| Arena · Agentic / tool use | 1410✓ | 1372 |
| Score evidence | Measured | Measured |
| Pricing (USD / 1M tokens) | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $1.10✓ |
| Output | $8.00 | $4.40✓ |
| Cached input (read) | $0.5000 | $0.2750✓ |
| Cache write | — | — |
| Blended(3:1 input:output blend) | $3.50 | $1.93✓ |
| Specs & capabilities | ||
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Context window | 200K (200,000) | 200K (200,000) |
| Max output | 100,000 | 100,000 |
| Modalities | text, image | text, image |
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Prompt caching | Yes | Yes |
| Batch pricing | Yes | Yes |
| Tokenizer | o200k_base | 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
o3 and o4-mini are pre-loaded. Adjust the tokens and monthly volume to see which is cheaper for your usage.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, o3 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 $600.00/month.
What is the context window of o3 and o4-mini?
o3 supports 200,000 tokens, while o4-mini supports 200,000 tokens.
Estimates for planning only. Verify current pricing with each provider.