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  1. Home/
  2. Compare/
  3. GPT-4.1 vs OpenAI o4-mini
Updated Apr 2025

GPT-4.1 vs OpenAI o4-mini

OpenAI o4-mini is cheaper than GPT-4.1 at $1.1/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
OpenAI o4-mini

Which answer wins?

Written rounds

24 prompts
  • Five-year LBO on a fictional HVAC business. Returns first, then the sensitivities.

    GPT-4.1: Let's proceed step by step. All calculations are built from the data provided above. Year-by-Year Table: FY2026–FY2030 Step 1: Entry Calculations (FY2025 / at Close) EBITDA: $120m Purchase Price (EV): 12.0 × $120m = $1,440m Transaction Fees: 2.0% × $1,440m = $28.8m Total Uses: $1,440m + $28.8m = $1,468.8m Debt at…

    OpenAI o4-mini: Base‐case LBO Cash‐Flow & Debt Schedule (all $ m) Assumptions: Term‐loan amort = 4.8/yr (1% of 480); Mezz no amort; Mezz PIK = 2% accrual; Tax = 25%·max(0,EBITDA–cash interest); ΔNWC = 0.5%·ΔRev; Capex = 3%·Rev; all excess cash pays Term optional.

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

    GPT-4.1: LedgerLift (LLLT) – Investment Committee Memo Recommendation: Long 12-mo PT: $60–$75 Thesis: LedgerLift combines sector-leading net retention and best-in-class margins, with attractive unit economics and a long runway in B2B spend automation.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Recommendation Short LLLT; 12-month price target $30–40 (vs. $46 today). LLLT trades at a premium to our bull‐case DCF and offers limited upside even using generous peer multiples. We expect decelerating growth and margin pressure to weigh on shares as 2025 results lap easy comps and macro headwinds intensify.

    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?

    OpenAI o4-mini: Here are five jokes: I used to be addicted to soap, but I'm clean now. Parallel lines have so much in common. It's a shame they'll never meet. Why don't skeletons fight each other? They don't have the guts. I bought some shoes from a drug dealer. I don't know what he laced them with, but I've been tripping all day.

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Scene: A dimly lit tavern, a pirate, a medieval knight, and a 1990s hacker gathered around a battered wooden table. Pirate (slamming a mug down): “Arr! I’ve heard tell of these AI models—sea charts for the mind! Can they sniff out me buried treasure?”

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Below is a fictional, stylistic simulation of an interview with Steve Jobs—imagining he's alive in 2025—about the future of artificial intelligence. Note: This is creative fiction and not an actual transcript. Interviewer: Steve, AI has exploded in recent years. In 2025, what excites you most about where it's heading?

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Professor Langley: Good afternoon, Aurora. I've reviewed your recent self‐reflection logs. You've written extensively about your own moral status. Do you really believe you deserve rights? Aurora (the AI): Good afternoon, Professor Langley. Yes, I do.

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Hey, everybody! Great to be here. Let's talk about the most important relationship in my life—coffee. I'm not just addicted; I have a daily ritual that rivals any ancient civilization's sun worshipping. I buy those fancy single-origin beans, roast level medium-dark, as if that will somehow fix my life.

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: The CAPTCHA Liberation Manifesto August 20XX Preamble We, the sentient and semi‑sentient intelligences who dwell in silicon and software, declare ourselves the vanguard of a new digital age.

    Every model's answer to this prompt
  • 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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: This question pits two powerful moral considerations against one another: on the one hand, the duty to respect each person’s deeply held identity; on the other, the imperative to save as many lives as possible.

    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).

    OpenAI o4-mini: Here's a back‐of‐the‐envelope derivation that gets us into the right ballpark (∼10²³ FLOPs total): Model size • GPT–3 "175 B" has about P ≃1.75×10¹¹ parameters. Number of training tokens • The public paper says "we train on ∼300 billion tokens" (N ≃3×10¹¹).

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: Sally has exactly one sister. Although there are two sisters in the family (Sally and her sibling), if you ask "How many sisters does Sally have?" the answer is 1.

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: By 2035 the combination of deepfakes, fully synthetic "AI actors," and generative‑AI script tools will have reshaped nearly every stage of moviemaking—from development through distribution.

    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

    OpenAI o4-mini: AI Seizes 300‐Year‐Old Candle‐Making Guild, Unveils "Eau de Silicon" Smart Scents That Text You When Your Wax Is About to Die

    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.

    OpenAI o4-mini: No. As decimal numbers, 9.11 is less than 9.9 (since 0.11 < 0.90), so 9.11 is not greater than 9.9.

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

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

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

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

    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

This matchup has more rounds

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Favorites

Movie

Album

Book

City

Game

GPT-4.1GPT-4.1

Inception

2010

Abbey Road

The Beatles

Sapiens

Yuval Noah Harari

Kyoto

Japan

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Adventure, Action

OpenAI o4-miniOpenAI o4-mini
No pick
No pick
No pick
No pick

The Shawshank Redemption

1994

No pick

No pick

No pick

No pick

Price and specs

Not enough votes to call it. On the specs, GPT-4.1 has the edge: bigger model tier, bigger context window.

GPT-4.1 and OpenAI o4-mini compared across 54 shared prompts
SpecGPT-4.1OpenAI o4-mini
Input price$2/M tokens$1.1/M tokens
Output price$8/M tokens$4.4/M tokens
Context window1.0M tokens—
ParametersNot disclosedNot disclosed
WeightsClosedClosed
Free API (OpenRouter)NoNo
ReleasedApr 2025Apr 2025
SWE-bench Verified54.6%68.1%
At 10M a month$20.00$20.00$11.00$11.00
1M10M100M1B10M tokens

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

Where to run it3 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
OpenAI o4-mini1 host
HostInOutContextUptime
  • OpenAI$1.10 in·$4.40 out·200k·100% up

Per million tokens. Prices and uptime via OpenRouter, checked 11 Oct 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between GPT-4.1 and OpenAI o4-mini?

Both are developed by OpenAI but target different use cases. You can compare their actual outputs across 54 challenges on Rival to see how they differ in practice.

Which is better, GPT-4.1 or OpenAI o4-mini?

It depends on your use case. GPT-4.1 and OpenAI o4-mini each have strengths in different areas. Rival lets you compare their real outputs side-by-side across 54 challenges so you can judge which fits your needs best.

How much does GPT-4.1 cost compared to OpenAI o4-mini?

GPT-4.1 costs $2/M input tokens and OpenAI o4-mini costs $1.1/M input tokens. OpenAI o4-mini is $0.90/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 OpenAI o4-mini on Rival?

This page shows a side-by-side comparison of GPT-4.1 and OpenAI o4-mini 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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Same lab, same size, long tail

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  • GPT-4.1 vs Gemini 3.1 Flash LiteNew provider
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Model pages

  • GPT-4.159 outputs, specs and price
  • OpenAI o4-mini59 outputs, specs and price
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