ModelRefs / o4 Mini vs GPT-4.1
o4 Mini vs GPT-4.1
o4 Mini vs GPT-4.1: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
GPT-4.1: GPT-4.1 is OpenAI's April 2025 API-only model, built for instruction following and tool calling without a reasoning step. It accepts text and image input across a 1,047,576-token context window, returns up to 32,768 tokens, and carries a June 2024 knowledge cutoff — roughly eight times GPT-4o's context at lower per-token pricing. OpenAI has since deprecated it, scheduling the gpt-4.1-2025-04-14 snapshot to shut down on 14 January 2027 with gpt-6-luna as the replacement.
o4 Mini: o4 Mini is OpenAI's efficient reasoning model, adding vision support to the mini reasoning tier for agentic tasks needing both image understanding and step-by-step logic at low cost per task. It is now deprecated: OpenAI gives the o4-mini-2025-04-16 snapshot and the o4-mini alias a shutdown date of 23 October 2026, with gpt-5.6-terra as the substitute.
Context window: GPT-4.1 accepts up to 1,000,000 tokens, o4 Mini up to 200,000. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
GPT-4.1 vs o4 Mini at a glance
| Attribute | GPT-4.1 | o4 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Released | 2025-04-14 | 2025-04-16 |
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Input price | $2/M tokens | $1.1/M tokens |
| Output price | $8/M tokens | $4.4/M tokens |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Self-hostable | No, hosted only | No, hosted only |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, vision |
Benchmarks reported for both
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 | o4 Mini | Reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPQA Diamond (accuracy) | 66.3 | 77.6 | Date not published |
Each row compares the same benchmark, the same reported metric, and the same task set. Scores are as published by their cited sources on the dates shown. Different runs still use different harnesses and prompts, so treat these as directional evidence rather than a head-to-head result.
Where they differ most
- Reasoning: GPT-4.1 62%, o4 Mini 79%. o4 Mini leads on this dimension.
- Cost Efficiency: GPT-4.1 51%, o4 Mini 63%. o4 Mini leads on this dimension.
Capability scores are ModelRefs' own derived signals, not vendor claims or benchmark results. Validate against your own workload before relying on them.
Continue your research
Use these connected ModelRefs sections to compare alternatives, inspect implementation paths, and review the evidence and governance boundaries relevant to o4 Mini vs GPT-4.1.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, o4 Mini or GPT-4.1?
o4 Mini and GPT-4.1 target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is o4 Mini cheaper than GPT-4.1?
Compare $0.00110 vs $0.00200 on this page.