GPT-4.1 Mini
OpenAI · released Apr 14, 2025
- Type
- Closed
- Input
- $0.40
- Output
- $1.60
- Cached
- $0.10
List price · per 1M tokens · OpenAI at 1M context · machine-readable source ↗
Our take
Written Sep 1, 2026GPT-4.1 Mini is a compact proprietary model from OpenAI that accepts text, images and files across a one-million-token request limit. Its measured coding score sits well above its overall chat rating, while creative writing lags behind.
Choose this for long-context tasks needing roughly one million tokens of working memory, or for budget-conscious multimodal inference where you process images and documents alongside text. It suits coding assistance where its strongest measured skill is sufficient. Skip it if you need strong creative writing, end-to-end software engineering at scale, or the fastest throughput at this price.
The case for it
- One-million-token request limit is unusually large for its price tier.
- Coding is its standout measured skill, scoring more than 50 points above its overall chat rating.
- Identical base pricing across OpenAI, Azure and OpenRouter gives channel flexibility.
The case against it
- Creative writing is its weakest measured skill, scoring nearly 34 points below its overall chat rating.
- Resolves roughly one in four real GitHub issues end-to-end on the software engineering benchmark we track.
- Only 5 tokens per second faster on the standard Azure tier than direct from OpenAI, with no price advantage.
How good is it?
EverydayGeneral questions and everyday reasoning
Arena Text (overall)108th of 168 · 1383
CodingWriting and fixing code on its own
Arena Coding107th of 168 · 1433
Arena Coding is the only board that has scored it for this.
AgenticPlanning, calling tools, staying on task
Not yet scored on Arena Agent. It is on SWE-bench Verified, in 37th of 42 with 23.9.
WritingDrafting and rewriting prose
Arena Creative Writing101st of 168 · 1349
Arena Creative Writing is the only board that has scored it for this.
These tests check whether a model follows instructions — a precondition for all the work above, but not a measure of how well that work is done.
Every published score for this model7 scoresEvery figure we hold, from 7 boards, with who ran it and a link to the source — including the boards no rating above is built on.
Where to rent it
Prices checked 2 hours ago — each listing carries its own date.
OpenAI, direct
The lab is also the cheapest we hold. The strip above and this offer are the same one, so nothing on this page undercuts OpenAI on 1M of context.
- per 1M tokens
- $0.40 in / $1.60 out
- Context served
- 1M
- Throughput
- ~39 tok/s
| Provider | In / out per 1M tokens | Context | Throughput | Trains on prompts | Logs prompts | Zero retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | $0.40 / $1.60checked 2 hours ago | 1M | not measured | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Microsoft Azure AIThrough OpenRouter | $0.40 / $1.60checked 2 hours ago | 1M943K max reply | 42 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
| OpenAIDirect | $0.40 / $1.60checked 2 hours ago | 1M33K max reply | 39 tok/s | No | Yesunknown period | Unknown |
| Microsoft Azure AIswedencentralThrough OpenRouter | $0.44 / $1.76checked 2 hours ago | 1M943K max reply | 44 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
OpenRouter
Microsoft Azure AIAcross the 4 listings we hold: 3 say they do not train on prompts, 0 say they do and 1 does not say. 2 appear in the zero-retention registry we check; the rest are unknown to us.
What each host's API supports
From the parameter list each endpoint publishes. Streaming is omitted: nothing we hold reports it, for any model.
| Provider | Tool calling | JSON output | Strict schema |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft Azure AIThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| OpenAIDirect | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Microsoft Azure AIswedencentralThrough OpenRouter | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Tool calling: 4 of 4 listings say yes. JSON output: 4 of 4 listings say yes. Strict schema: 4 of 4 listings say yes.
Models people weigh against GPT-4.1 Mini
When we formed this view
Recent changes
What moved
first indexed by our pipelineEach date is the day we first saw the change, or the day the maker announced it.
What we do not know about this model yet
- Nothing we hold says whether an endpoint streams, so we do not show it either way.
- 1 of 4 listings does not say whether it trains on prompts.
- We hold no batch or off-peak rate for any of its listings.
Licence and identifiers
What the licence allowsWe hold no licence record for this model. Inside are the identifiers you need to pull it — its Hugging Face repo where we have one, our slug and a machine-readable card.
Licence
We hold no licence record for this model, and no record of published weights either — so we can neither summarise its terms nor point you at the weights.
Identifiers
- Takes in, gives back
- Text, images and documents in, text out
- Catalogue slug
- openai-gpt-4-1-mini