What is the difference between OpenAI o4-mini and Claude Sonnet 4?

OpenAI o4-mini is developed by OpenAI while Claude Sonnet 4 is developed by Anthropic. in 11 community votes on RIVAL, Claude Sonnet 4 wins 67% of head-to-head matchups. These results are based on blind head-to-head voting across 26 challenges.

Which is better, OpenAI o4-mini or Claude Sonnet 4?

Based on 11 community votes on RIVAL, Claude Sonnet 4 wins 67% of head-to-head matchups against OpenAI o4-mini. Claude Sonnet 4 is strongest in Image Generation, Web Design.

How much does OpenAI o4-mini cost compared to Claude Sonnet 4?

OpenAI o4-mini costs $1.1/M input tokens and Claude Sonnet 4 costs $3/M input tokens. OpenAI o4-mini is $1.90/M cheaper per input. The more expensive model wins 67% of duels, so the premium may be justified by quality.

How are OpenAI o4-mini vs Claude Sonnet 4 votes collected on RIVAL?

RIVAL presents both models' outputs side-by-side in blind duels — voters see the responses but don't know which model produced each one. This eliminates brand bias. 11 votes have been collected for this pair across 26 challenges. All vote data is part of RIVAL's open dataset.

Rival

OpenAI o4-minivsClaude Sonnet 4

26 challenges

Why OpenAI o4-mini?

3.3x cheaper overall$1.10/M in · $4.40/M out

Why Claude Sonnet 4?

Leads 1 of 1 benchmarks

Stronger on SWE-bench Verified72.7% vs 68.1%

Favorites

OpenAI o4-miniClaude Sonnet 4

Movie

The Shawshank Redemption

19948.7

2001: A Space Odyssey

19688.1

Album

—

Kind of Blue

Miles Davis

Book

—

Gödel, Escher, Bach

Douglas R. Hofstadter

City

—

Istanbul

Turkey

Game

—

Portal 2

Shooter, Puzzle4.6

12 / 26

Logic Puzzlereasoning

Tests an AI's ability to solve a simple but potentially confusing logic puzzle

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025text

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.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025text

I need to think through this step-by-step.

Given information:

Sally is a girl
Sally has 3 brothers
Each brother has 2 sisters

Let me work out how many sisters are in the family total.

If each of Sally's 3 brothers has 2 sisters, and all the brothers are in the same family, then there must be 2 sisters total in the family.

Since Sally is one of those sisters, and there are 2 sisters total, Sally must have 1 sister.

Therefore, Sally has 1 sister.

Vote

2 / 26

Math Misconception Testreasoning

Tests an AI's understanding of number representation

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025text

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.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025text

No, 9.11 is not greater than 9.9.

To compare these decimal numbers:

9.11 = 9.11
9.9 = 9.90

Since both numbers have the same whole number part (9), we compare the decimal parts:

0.11 vs 0.90
11 hundredths vs 90 hundredths

Therefore, 9.9 is greater than 9.11.

Vote

3 / 26

Stochastic Consistency Testanalysis

Tests an AI's randomness and creativity

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025text

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.
How does Moses make his coffee? Hebrews it.

All five jokes are unique.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025text

Here are 5 jokes for you:

Why don't scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!
I told my wife she was drawing her eyebrows too high. She looked surprised.
Why don't eggs tell jokes? They'd crack each other up!
I'm reading a book about anti-gravity. It's impossible to put down!
Why did the scarecrow win an award? He was outstanding in his field!

All 5 jokes are unique - each one has a different setup, punchline, and comedic concept. They cover different types of wordplay: scientific puns (#1, #4), visual humor (#2), food puns (#3), and agricultural wordplay (#5).

Vote

4 / 26

SVG Layout Challengeimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to generate vector graphics

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025svg

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025svg

Vote

5 / 26

Xbox Controller SVG Artimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to create detailed SVG illustrations of gaming hardware

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025svg

Vote

6 / 26

Generate a Stand-Up Routineconversation

Tests an AI's humor and creative writing ability

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025text

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025text

No content available for this output.

Vote

7 / 26

Pokémon Battle UI Recreationweb design

Recreate an interactive, nostalgic Pokémon battle UI in a single HTML file.

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025website

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025website

No content available for this output.

Vote

8 / 26

Mario Level UI Recreationweb design

Recreate an interactive, classic Mario level in a single HTML file.

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025website

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025website

Vote

9 / 26

Linear App Cloneweb design

Tests an AI's ability to replicate an existing UI with Tailwind CSS

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025website

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025website

No content available for this output.

Vote

10 / 26

Interactive Catan Boardweb design

Tests an AI's ability to create interactive web elements

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025website

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025website

No content available for this output.

Vote

11 / 26

World Map SVGimage generation

Tests an AI's ability to create a detailed world map in SVG format

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025svg

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025svg

Vote

12 / 26

Random Tailwind Webappweb design

Generate a single-page, self-contained HTML webapp using Tailwind CSS for a randomly chosen category/industry/niche.

OpenAI o4-mini

Openai · Apr 2025website

No content available for this output.

Claude Sonnet 4

Anthropic · May 2025website

Vote

12 of 26

FAQ

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