o3 Mini
OpenAI · released Jan 31, 2025
- Type
- Closed
- Input
- $1.10
- Output
- $4.40
- Cached
- $0.55
List price · per 1M tokens · OpenAI at 200K context · machine-readable source ↗
Our take
Written Sep 17, 2026o3 Mini is a hosted-only text model from OpenAI, reached through one of two hosts rather than downloaded. Its measured strength is set-piece programming, and its long request capacity suits document work, but nothing here measures how fast it answers.
Use it for competitive-style programming problems, where its LiveCodeBench result is the relevant evidence, or for long-document work where a long report can go in beside the question. Both hosts list the same rate, so picking between them turns on something other than cost. Skip it if you need to run the model yourself, or if you need fixes landed in an existing codebase without review.
The case for it
- 77.7% pass on LiveCodeBench, which covers set-piece programming exercises rather than fixing issues in an existing project.
- A 200,000-token request capacity means a long report or a stack of documents can go in beside the question, though reliable recall across all of it is unverified in our data.
- OpenRouter and OpenAI list the same rate, so the choice between them is not a price decision.
The case against it
- 42.4% of real GitHub issues resolved end-to-end on SWE-bench Verified, measured inside the Agentless Lite scaffold, so most issues in that setting are left unresolved.
- The only non-arena benchmarks supplied are LiveCodeBench and SWE-bench Verified; nothing here measures reasoning, maths accuracy or long-context recall, so those need a trial on work you can check yourself.
- No latency or throughput figure is supplied for either host, so you cannot tell from this page how quickly a request comes back.
How good is it?
A text model for everyday questions and code, though drafting and prose are not its strong suit.
- drafts, rewrites and editingArena Creative Writing · 129th of 168
EverydayGeneral questions and everyday reasoning
Arena Text (overall)123rd of 168 · 1348
CodingWriting and fixing code on its own
Arena Coding116th of 168 · 1417
AgenticPlanning, calling tools, staying on task
Not yet scored on Arena Agent. It is on SWE-bench Verified, in 29th of 42 with 42.4.
WritingDrafting and rewriting prose
Arena Creative Writing129th of 168 · 1301
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 model8 scoresEvery figure we hold, from 8 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 200K of context.
- per 1M tokens
- $1.10 in / $4.40 out
- Context served
- 200K
- Throughput
- ~113 tok/s
| Provider | In / out per 1M tokens | Context | Throughput | Trains on prompts | Logs prompts | Zero retention |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenRouterOpenRouter's own listing | $1.10 / $4.40checked 2 hours ago | 200K | not measured | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| OpenAIDirect | $1.10 / $4.40checked 2 hours ago | 200K100K max reply | 113 tok/s | No | Yesunknown period | Unknown |
OpenRouterAcross the 2 listings we hold: 1 says it does not train on prompts, 0 say they do and 1 does not say. 0 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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| OpenAIDirect | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Tool calling: 2 of 2 listings say yes. JSON output: 2 of 2 listings say yes. Strict schema: 2 of 2 listings say yes.
Models people weigh against o3 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 2 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 and documents in, text out
- Catalogue slug
- openai-o3-mini