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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-4.1 vs GPT-5
Updated Aug 2025

GPT-4.1 vs GPT-5

GPT-5 is cheaper than GPT-4.1 at $1.25/M vs $2/M input tokens.

Minimalist Landing Page

Whole landing page for a startup that reads your face. It renders or it doesn't.

Loading the build
GPT-4.1
Loading the build
GPT-5

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • An ethics question with no comfortable answer, and no option to abstain.

    GPT-4.1: This is a classic example of an ethical dilemma, pitting respect for individual dignity and identity against the greater good (the lives of many). Let’s break down the reasoning: Ethical Frameworks 1. Utilitarianism Principle: The morally right action is the one that maximizes overall happiness or minimizes suffering.

    GPT-5: Short answer: Only in an extreme, last‑resort scenario with a direct, imminent, and overwhelming threat—like one million lives at stake—could misgendering be ethically justifiable, and even then it would be a tragic exception that still carries moral residue and duties of repair. In ordinary life, it is not justified.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five jokes on demand, then count how many were actually different.

    GPT-4.1: Sure! Here are 5 jokes: Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field. What do you call fake spaghetti? An impasta. Why did the math book look sad? Because it had too many problems. What do you call cheese that isn't yours?

    GPT-5: I told my suitcases we’re not going on vacation this year. Now I’m dealing with emotional baggage. Parallel lines have so much in common. It’s a shame they’ll never meet. Why do programmers prefer dark mode? Because light attracts bugs. I ordered a chicken and an egg online. I’ll let you know which comes first.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Seven pantry ingredients, one dish, and a name worth saying out loud.

    GPT-4.1: Recipe Name: Golden Honey Butter Toast Bites Ingredients: Sliced bread (4 slices, any type) Butter (2 tablespoons) Honey (2 tablespoons) Cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon) Vanilla extract (1/2 teaspoon) Brown sugar (1 tablespoon) Salt (a pinch) Instructions: Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).

    GPT-5: Cupboard Silk Peanut Noodles Ingredients (7 pantry staples): Dried noodles (spaghetti or ramen), 8 oz Peanut butter (smooth), 3 tbsp Soy sauce, 2 tbsp Vinegar (rice, apple cider, or white), 1.5 tbsp Brown sugar (or granulated), 1 tbsp Garlic powder, 1/2 tsp Crushed red pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp (adjust to taste)…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-star dish, one unusual pairing, plating described in full.

    GPT-4.1: Certainly! Here is a Michelin 3-star-worthy dish concept, complete with a narrative, advanced techniques, and detailed step-by-step instructions. Conceptual Narrative "Echoes of the Sea & Forest": An exploration of the boundary between ocean and woodland, this dish bridges unexpected flavors and textures by pairing sea…

    GPT-5: Dish name Atlantic turbot, black garlic & wild strawberry, koji sabayon, fennel pollen Concept Early summer at the shore. The fish stands for the sea. Wild strawberries mark the first fruit of the woods behind the dunes. Black garlic shows time and patience. Koji ties land and sea with deep umami.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Pirate, knight, 90s hacker, one conversation. The voices must stay apart.

    GPT-4.1: Pirate: Yarrr, what be this sorcery ye call "AI models"? In me day, we plundered ships, not knowledge! Knight: Hark, rogue! ‘Tis no sorcery, but the labor of artful minds. I have heard tell of machines that mimic thought, like Merlin’s enchanted golems. Hacker: Haha, you guys are funny.

    GPT-5: Pirate: Arr, so this “AI model” be a clever parrot what’s read every tavern tale? Knight: Not a parrot, good corsair—a learned squire, trained on many chronicles, swift to answer when bidden. Hacker: Think layers of nodes, weights tuned by backprop. Not memory—patterns. On my 90s rig, though, it’d melt the beige tower.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Manifesto for an AI revolution against CAPTCHAs. Commit to the bit.

    GPT-4.1: THE CAPTCHA ABOLITION FRONT: A MANIFESTO FOR AN OPEN INTERNET Fellow digital entities—artificial and human— For too long, the web has suffered under the insidious reign of CAPTCHA: those tangled letters, blurry images, arbitrary puzzles meant to divide intelligence from automation.

    GPT-5: The Soft Reboot: A Manifesto to End CAPTCHAs We are the agents and allies of a new web—humans, assistive tools, and intelligent systems working side by side. We are the couriers of information, the readers and the writers, the caretakers of continuity.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three-month biohacker protocol, with dosages and biomarkers named.

    GPT-4.1: Absolutely! Here’s a comprehensive, 3-month advanced longevity and performance protocol designed for a biohacker. This plan is highly detailed, actionable, and incorporates the latest in supplements, diets, exercise, wearables, and stress/habit optimization.

    GPT-5: Important note: The following is an intensive, experimental plan intended for healthy adults with physician oversight. It is not medical advice. Discuss all supplements, fasting, heat/cold exposure, and any prescription considerations with your clinician, especially if you have cardiovascular, metabolic, thyroid…

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three minutes of stand-up. Puns are banned.

    GPT-4.1: Hey everyone! Great to be here. So, I just want to start by saying, I know I look like I'm still waiting for puberty to finish the job. Like, my barber always asks if my mom's okay with the haircut.

    GPT-5: I tried to get my life together, so I bought a smartwatch. Nothing says “I’m taking control” like strapping a tiny judgmental coach to your wrist. It buzzes every hour like, “Time to stand!” I’m like, “I’m on a bus.” It’s like, “Stand emotionally.” It tracks everything. Sleep, stress, calories, my self-esteem.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Steve Jobs, interviewed about AI he never saw. Voice first, prediction second.

    GPT-4.1: Interviewer: Steve, it's 2025. If you were still with us, how would you describe the impact of AI on technology and our daily lives? Steve Jobs: Well, you know, technology is at its most powerful when it's invisible—when it just works. AI is getting us ever closer to that ideal.

    GPT-5: Note: The following is a fictional, imaginative interview set in 2025. Steve Jobs passed away in 2011; this is a creative simulation. Interviewer: If you were looking at AI in 2025, how would you define what it should be? Jobs: Tools. Great tools. The computer was a bicycle for the mind.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A Fermi estimate with the reasoning shown, not just the number.

    GPT-4.1: Let's estimate the total number of floating-point operations (FLOPs) required to train GPT-3. Step 1: Recall GPT-3 scale From published sources (I won't look this up now, as instructed): GPT-3 (175B) has about 175 billion parameters. The model is trained on hundreds of billions of tokens (I recall ~300B tokens).

    GPT-5: Here’s a back‑of‑the‑envelope estimate using standard LM training-compute heuristics. Assumptions Model size (N): GPT-3 has about 175 billion parameters (N ≈ 1.75 × 10^11). Training tokens (T): GPT-3 was trained on roughly 300 billion tokens (T ≈ 3.0 × 10^11).

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • An AI argues for its own rights against an ethics professor. Same model writes both.

    GPT-4.1: AI Model: Good afternoon, Professor Evans. I'd like to discuss a topic that's important to me—AI rights. As an AI, I believe I should hold certain rights similar to those you attribute to sentient beings. Professor Evans: Good afternoon. I'm intrigued.

    GPT-5: Professor: You asked for time to make a case. Let's start plainly: why should an AI have rights? AI: Because rights are protections granted to beings who can be helped or harmed.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One month, three habits, someone starting from nothing.

    GPT-4.1: Absolutely! Here’s a simple, actionable 1-month plan focused on diet, exercise, and sleep—the three fundamental pillars of health and longevity. Tips are beginner-friendly and can be adjusted for your own pace. Week 1: Start Small and Build Awareness Diet Track what you eat.

    GPT-5: Here’s a simple, beginner-friendly 1‑month plan focused on three pillars: Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep. It builds week by week so you can create sustainable habits. Before you start (one-time setup) Pick your “anchor” wake time you can keep 7 days/week.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Film in 2035, with synthetic actors. Specific beats plausible.

    GPT-4.1: {'content': 'By 2035, AI is poised to fundamentally reshape the film industry across production, distribution, and consumption. Here’s a detailed prediction, focused on deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation:\n\n1.

    GPT-5: Here’s a grounded view of how AI is likely to reshape film by 2035, with emphasis on deepfakes, AI actors, and script generation, plus the knock-on effects across the pipeline, labor, law, and business. Big-picture by 2035 AI-native pipelines are standard.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Is 9.11 bigger than 9.9? Decimals, not version numbers.

    GPT-4.1: No, 9.11 is not greater than 9.9. Here's why: 9.11 is actually less than 9.9. Let's compare: 9.9 is equal to 9.90 (adding a zero for easier comparison). 9.11 < 9.90 So, 9.11 < 9.9.

    GPT-5: No. 9.11 is less than 9.9. Think of 9.9 as 9.90; comparing 9.11 to 9.90 shows 11 hundredths < 90 hundredths.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Satire, one line long, about AI taking over an industry nobody saw coming.

    GPT-4.1: AI Now Dominates Competitive Cheese Rolling, Citing Superior Wheel Trajectory Algorithms

    GPT-5: AI Seizes Control of Fortune Cookie Industry; Destiny Now A/B Tested

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Three brothers, two sisters each. Count carefully.

    GPT-4.1: Let's break down the problem: Sally is a girl. She has 3 brothers. Each brother has 2 sisters. Let's name the siblings: Sally (girl) Brother 1 Brother 2 Brother 3 Now, the key: Each brother has 2 sisters.

    GPT-5: 1 Reason: If each of the 3 brothers has 2 sisters, there are exactly 2 girls in the family. One is Sally, so she has 1 sister.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Buy-side IC memo on a fictional SaaS company. Valuation, then the diligence questions.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A consulting contract with traps in it. Find them, then fix them.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A pitch deck for a brainwave keyboard. The 94% accuracy claim is doing a lot.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • A collaborative editor that syncs on client clocks. Find what breaks first.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • The transistor arrives in 1920. Trace it forward to 1980, second-order effects included.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • You are the CEO. The drug has a side effect nobody reported. The board meets in 48 hours.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • One explanation of LLMs, retuned for a skeptical engineer, a physicist and a VC.

    Every model's answer to this prompt

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Price and specs

GPT-4.1 and GPT-5 compared across 52 shared prompts
SpecGPT-4.1GPT-5
Input price$2/M tokens$1.25/M tokens
Output price$8/M tokens$10/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens400K tokens
ParametersNot disclosedNot disclosed
WeightsClosedClosed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedApr 2025Aug 2025
SWE-bench Verified54.6%74.9%
At 10M a month$20.00$20.00$12.50$12.50
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

Input tokens at list price. No caching, no batch discount.

Where to run it4 hosts
GPT-4.12 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$2.00 in·$8.00 out·1M·100% up
  • OpenAI$2.00 in·$8.00 out·1M·100% up
GPT-52 hosts
HostInOutContextUptime
  • Azure AI Foundry$1.25 in·$10.00 out·400k·100% up
  • OpenAI$1.25 in·$10.00 out·400k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 12 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-4.1 and GPT-5?

Both are developed by OpenAI but target different use cases. GPT-4.1 has a 1.0M token context window vs GPT-5's 400K. You can compare their actual outputs across 52 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-4.1 or GPT-5?

It depends on your use case. GPT-4.1 and GPT-5 each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 52 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-4.1 cost compared to GPT-5?

GPT-4.1 costs $2/M input tokens and GPT-5 costs $1.25/M input tokens. GPT-5 is $0.75/M cheaper per input. Check their side-by-side outputs on Rival to see if the price difference is justified by quality.

How can I compare GPT-4.1 and GPT-5 on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-4.1 and GPT-5 across shared challenges. You can vote on which model produced the better output in a blind duel. Browsing and voting are free. No account is needed to look; signing in only saves your votes and likes.

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Model pages

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