ModelRefs / Text Embedding 3 Large vs o4 Mini
Text Embedding 3 Large vs o4 Mini
Text Embedding 3 Large vs o4 Mini: side-by-side benchmarks, pricing, context windows, coding ability and deployment. Pick the right model for your stack.
Overview
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.
Text Embedding 3 Large: Text Embedding 3 Large is OpenAI's larger third-generation embedding model, returning 3,072-dimension vectors from inputs of up to 8,192 tokens. Its dimensions parameter shortens the vector at creation time without, as OpenAI puts it, the embedding losing its concept-representing properties, which lets a retrieval system trade index size against accuracy without changing models. Shortening at creation is preferred to truncating afterwards, which requires re-normalising the vector.
Context window: o4 Mini accepts up to 200,000 tokens, Text Embedding 3 Large up to 8,191. Confirm the limit for your specific deployment channel before relying on it.
o4 Mini vs Text Embedding 3 Large at a glance
| Attribute | o4 Mini | Text Embedding 3 Large |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Released | 2025-04-16 | 2024-01-25 |
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 8,191 tokens |
| Input price | $1.1/M tokens | $0.13/M tokens |
| Output price | $4.4/M tokens | Free / self-hosted |
| Licence | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Self-hostable | No, hosted only | No, hosted only |
| Modalities | text, vision | text, Embedding |
Where they differ most
- Cost Efficiency: o4 Mini 63%, Text Embedding 3 Large 99%. Text Embedding 3 Large 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 Text Embedding 3 Large vs o4 Mini.
Frequently asked questions
Which is better, Text Embedding 3 Large or o4 Mini?
Text Embedding 3 Large and o4 Mini target different workloads — see the benchmark and pricing tables for a side-by-side answer.
Is Text Embedding 3 Large cheaper than o4 Mini?
Compare $0.00013 vs $0.00110 on this page.