Last verified 2025-09-22 (left) · 2025-09-22 (right)
o3 vs o4-mini — Pricing & Capability Comparison
o3 charges $2.00 per million input tokens and $8.00 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 $10.00 for o3 — saves $4.50 per 1M tokens
- ✓Input pricing: o3 $2.00/1M vs o4-mini $1.10/1M
- ✓Output pricing: o3 $8.00/1M vs o4-mini $4.40/1M
- ✓Context window: o3 offers more (200K vs 200K)
- ✓Use our calculator below to estimate costs for your specific usage pattern
Input price (per 1M)
o3
$2.00
o4-mini
$1.10
o4-mini leads here
Output price (per 1M)
o3
$8.00
o4-mini
$4.40
o4-mini leads here
Context window
o3
200,000 tokens
o4-mini
200,000 tokens
o3 leads here
Cached input
o3
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 | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
Balanced conversation 50% input · 50% output | $0.0500 | $0.0275 |
Input-heavy workflow 80% input · 20% output | $0.0320 | $0.0176 |
Generation heavy 30% input · 70% output | $0.0620 | $0.0341 |
Cached system prompt 90% cached input · 10% fresh output | $0.0260 | $0.0143 |
Frequently asked questions
Which is cheaper: o3 or o4-mini?
o4-mini is cheaper for input tokens at $1.10 per 1M tokens compared to $2.00. For output, o4-mini costs $4.40 per 1M tokens versus $8.00 for o3.
What is the cost per 1M tokens for o3?
o3 pricing: $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $8.00 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 costs $0.0020 input / $0.0080 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 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 would cost approximately $36.00, while o4-mini would cost $19.80. o4-mini is more economical for this usage pattern.
Do these models support prompt caching?
o3 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 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.