GPT-5 vs o4-mini
Side-by-side comparison of GPT-5 (OpenAI) and o4-mini (OpenAI). Exact API pricing per million tokens, context windows, output speed, and total cost on real-world prompts.
Specifications
| Spec | GPT-5 | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Model id | gpt-5 | o4-mini |
| Input price (per 1M tokens) | $1.25 | $1.10 |
| Output price (per 1M tokens) | $10.00 | $4.40 |
| Context window | 400,000 | 200,000 |
| Output speed (tokens/sec) | ~110 | ~80 |
| Tokenizer encoding | o200k_base | o200k_base |
Cost on real prompts
Total cost = (input tokens × input price) + (output tokens × output price). Numbers below use the exact pricing tables published by each provider.
| Scenario | Input | Output | GPT-5 | o4-mini | Cheaper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short question + answer | 50 | 150 | $0.001563 | $0.000715 | o4-mini |
| Code review on one file | 500 | 1,500 | $0.015625 | $0.007150 | o4-mini |
| Long document summary | 5,000 | 500 | $0.011250 | $0.007700 | o4-mini |
| Heavy reasoning task | 2,000 | 8,000 | $0.082500 | $0.037400 | o4-mini |
| Full codebase analysis | 50,000 | 10,000 | $0.162500 | $0.099000 | o4-mini |
Want the exact cost for your prompt instead of these examples? Open the cost calculator pre-loaded with both models →
When to pick which
Heuristics derived from the spec table above. Always validate on your own prompts before committing — these are starting points, not verdicts.
Pick GPT-5 for
- •tasks needing a larger context window — gpt-5 fits 2x more tokens than o4-mini
- •latency-sensitive UX (chat, autocompletion) — gpt-5 streams faster (~110 vs ~80 tok/s)
Pick o4-mini for
- •output-heavy workloads — o4-mini is meaningfully cheaper per output token
- •complex multi-step reasoning — o4-mini uses chain-of-thought internally
Switching between them
For most use cases, switching providers means updating the model id and the request shape if the providers differ. Within the same provider, it's usually a single-line change.
From GPT-5 to o4-mini
# Before
model = "gpt-5"
# After
model = "o4-mini"If the providers differ (OpenAI vs OpenAI), you'll also need to swap the SDK / endpoint URL. Cross-provider migrations usually take 30 minutes to a few hours depending on how many features (streaming, function calling, tool use) you depend on.
Calculate cost on your own prompt
The examples above use generic input/output ratios. For an exact comparison, paste your real prompt into the calculator — it counts tokens with the right tokenizer for each model and shows side-by-side cost.
Open the calculator with both models →