o4-mini vs GPT-5 mini
Detailed pricing comparison and cost analysis.
Updated March 2026
Cost Simulator
| Feature | o4-mini | GPT-5 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Input Price (1M) | $1.10 | $0.25 |
| Output Price (1M) | $4.40 | $2.00 |
| Context Window | 200,000 | 128,000 |
Verdict
o4-mini costs $1.10 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens. GPT-5 mini costs $0.25 per 1M input tokens and $2.00 per 1M output tokens. GPT-5 mini is 77% cheaper on input tokens than o4-mini. For output tokens, GPT-5 mini is the more affordable option at $2.00/1M vs $4.40.
On context window, o4-mini supports 200,000 tokens — meaning it can fit more conversation history, documents, or code in a single request. This matters for RAG pipelines, long document analysis, and agentic workflows where context builds up over many turns.
When to choose o4-mini
- ✓ You need a larger context window (200,000 tokens)
- ✓ You are already integrated with OpenAI
When to choose GPT-5 mini
- ✓ You need the lowest input token cost ($ 0.25/1M)
- ✓ Your workload is output-heavy — GPT-5 mini generates text cheaper
- ✓ You are already integrated with OpenAI
Use the calculator above to simulate your specific workload and find the exact break-even point. For most applications, the cheapest model is the one that minimises your total monthly bill given your input-to-output token ratio.