Last verified 2025-09-22 (left) · 2025-09-22 (right)
o3-pro vs o4-mini — Pricing & Capability Comparison
o3-pro charges $20.00 per million input tokens and $80.00 per million output tokens. o4-mini comes in at $1.10 / $4.40. Context windows span 200K vs 200K tokens respectively.
TL;DR — Quick Comparison
- ✓o4-mini is cheaper overall: $5.50 per 1M tokens (in+out) vs $100.00 for o3-pro — saves $94.50 per 1M tokens
- ✓Input pricing: o3-pro $20.00/1M vs o4-mini $1.10/1M
- ✓Output pricing: o3-pro $80.00/1M vs o4-mini $4.40/1M
- ✓Context window: o3-pro offers more (200K vs 200K)
- ✓Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern
Input price (per 1M)
o3-pro
$20.00
o4-mini
$1.10
o4-mini leads here
Output price (per 1M)
o3-pro
$80.00
o4-mini
$4.40
o4-mini leads here
Context window
o3-pro
200,000 tokens
o4-mini
200,000 tokens
o3-pro leads here
Cached input
o3-pro
Not published
o4-mini
Not published
No published data
Cost comparison for 10K-token workloads
Side-by-side pricing for identical workloads (10,000 total tokens per request) across different distributions.
| Scenario | o3-pro | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
Balanced conversation 50% input · 50% output | $0.500 | $0.0275 |
Input-heavy workflow 80% input · 20% output | $0.320 | $0.0176 |
Generation heavy 30% input · 70% output | $0.620 | $0.0341 |
Cached system prompt 90% cached input · 10% fresh output | $0.260 | $0.0143 |
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper: o3-pro or o4-mini?
o4-mini is cheaper for input tokens at $1.10 per 1M tokens compared to $20.00. For output, o4-mini costs $4.40 per 1M tokens versus $80.00 for o3-pro.
What is the cost per 1M tokens for o3-pro?
o3-pro pricing: $20.00 per 1M input tokens and $80.00 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 200,000 tokens.
What is the cost per 1M tokens for o4-mini?
o4-mini pricing: $1.10 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens. Context window: 200,000 tokens.
How much does it cost per 1K tokens?
Per 1K tokens: o3-pro costs $0.0200 input / $0.0800 output. o4-mini costs $0.0011 input / $0.0044 output. This is useful for calculating small-scale usage costs.
Which model supports a larger context window?
o3-pro offers 200,000 tokens (200K) versus 200K for o4-mini.
What is the estimated monthly cost for typical usage?
For a typical workload of 10M input + 2M output tokens per month: o3-pro would cost approximately $360.00, while o4-mini would cost $19.80. o4-mini is more economical for this usage pattern.
Do these models support prompt caching?
o3-pro does not publish cached pricing. o4-mini does not publish cached pricing.
Which model is best for my use case?
Choose o4-mini for cost-sensitive applications with high input volume. Choose o3-pro if you need 200K context for long documents or conversations. Consider prompt caching if you have repeated context. Use our token calculator to model your specific usage pattern.