o3 Paid vs o4 Mini Paid
o3 vs o4 Mini compared — price per token, context window, multimodality, openness and which to choose. Full 2026 breakdown.
o3 — full profile › · o4 Mini — full profile ›
Prices & specs refreshed from live data · olud.ai
Open-model prices = cheapest provider via OpenRouter; official maker rates may be higher.
$8 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
$4.4 /M outputManaged API (no infra to run)
o3 vs o4 Mini specs
| Spec | o3 | o4 Mini | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maker | OpenAI | OpenAI | – |
| Type | Proprietary | Proprietary | – |
| Context window | 200K tokens | 200K tokens | = Tie |
| Input price | $2/M | $1.1/M | |
| Output price | $8/M | $4.4/M | |
| Vision / multimodal | Yes | Yes | = Tie |
| Tool / function calling | Yes | Yes | = Tie |
| Self-hostable | No (API only) | No (API only) | – |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | – |
Price gap & when to choose each
o4 Mini is ~1.8× cheaper than o3 on output tokens ($4.4 vs $8 per M tokens).
- You want frontier performance through a managed API
- You value reliability & ecosystem
- You don't want to manage infrastructure
- You want frontier performance through a managed API
- You want the lower output price
- You value reliability & ecosystem
- You don't want to manage infrastructure
Feature comparison
| Capability | o3 | o4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Open weights (downloadable) | ✗ | ✗ |
| Self-hostable | ✗ | ✗ |
| Runs fully offline | ✗ | ✗ |
| Vision / multimodal | ✓ | ✓ |
| Tool / function calling | ✓ | ✓ |
| 1M+ context window | ✗ | ✗ |
Benchmarks: o3 vs o4 Mini
Independent benchmark scores measured by Artificial Analysis. Higher is better (except latency).
Benchmark data by Artificial Analysis.
How o3 and o4 Mini score
| Criterion | o3 | o4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Cost-efficiency | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| Context window | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Openness | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| Self-hosting | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Multimodality | 5.0 | 5.0 |
Scores come from live data — output price (cost), context length, open vs closed weights (openness & self-hosting) and vision/tool support (multimodality). Raw task quality isn't scored here; it depends on your benchmark — see the verdict.
What each model is
o3 Paid
o3 is a well-rounded and powerful model across domains. It sets a new standard for math, science, coding, and visual reasoning tasks. It also excels at technical writing and instruction-following....
o4 Mini Paid
OpenAI o4-mini is a compact reasoning model in the o-series, optimized for fast, cost-efficient performance while retaining strong multimodal and agentic capabilities. It supports tool use and demonstrates competitive reasoning...
Other models in these families
These variants are tracked but not compared here — one page per family keeps the comparison readable.
Frequently asked questions
o3 vs o4 Mini — which is cheaper?
o4 Mini is cheaper on output ($4.4/M vs $8/M).
Which has the larger context window?
o3 offers the larger context window (200K tokens).
o3 vs o4 Mini — which should I pick in 2026?
Choose o4 Mini for the lower output price ($4.4/M vs $8/M). Choose o3 if you need the larger 200K context window.
People also compare
Explore more open-source AI
Browse the full open-source model leaderboard, thousands of tools and live benchmarks — all in one place.
Open the leaderboard →