GPT-4o-mini
OpenAI · released Jul 18, 2024
- Type
- Closed
- Input
- $0.15
- Output
- $0.60
- Cached
- $0.075
List price · per 1M tokens · OpenAI at 128K context · machine-readable source ↗
Our take
Written Sep 2, 2026GPT-4o-mini is OpenAI's low-cost gateway into its multimodal family, handling text, images and files across 128,000-token requests. It is the cheapest way to access OpenAI's stack, though no quality scores or parameter count are published.
Pick this for light multimodal workloads with images and files, or long-context tasks needing 128,000 tokens in one request. Use it when you want OpenAI's ecosystem at a fraction of the family price. Skip it if you need verified quality benchmarks, or if you want to self-host or run outside OpenAI's hosted stack.
The case for it
- Cheapest entry to OpenAI's multimodal stack, at roughly one-sixteenth the input and output cost of GPT-4o.
- 128,000-token request limit is broad for the price tier.
- Fastest on OpenAI's own API at 36 tokens per second, roughly twice standard Azure and three times the second Azure tier.
The case against it
- No benchmark scores in our data — no verified quality measures at all.
- Parameter count undisclosed, so there is no basis for size or efficiency claims.
- Slower on some Azure tiers, down to 11 tokens per second.
How good is it?
We hold no score for this model.
So there is no figure here for everyday use, coding, agent work or writing. That is a gap in our data, not a low score.
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 128K of context.
- per 1M tokens
- $0.15 in / $0.60 out
- Context served
- 128K
- Throughput
- ~46 tok/s
| Provider | In / out per 1M tokens | Context | Throughput | Trains on prompts | Logs prompts | Zero retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | $0.15 / $0.60checked 2 hours ago | 128K | not measured | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| Microsoft Azure AIThrough OpenRouter | $0.15 / $0.60checked 2 hours ago | 128K16K max reply | 32 tok/s | No | No | Confirmed |
| OpenAIDirect | $0.15 / $0.60checked 2 hours ago | 128K16K max reply | 46 tok/s | No | Yesunknown period | Unknown |
| Microsoft Azure AIswedencentralThrough OpenRouter | $0.17 / $0.66checked 2 hours ago | 128K16K max reply | 83 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: 2 of 4 listings say yes, 2 say no. JSON output: 4 of 4 listings say yes. Strict schema: 4 of 4 listings say yes.
Models people weigh against GPT-4o-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
- No independent board has scored it, so we hold no quality figures at all.
- 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-4o-mini