o4 Mini
$1.10 per 1M input tokens and $4.40 per 1M output tokens · 200K context · vision, tools, reasoning, JSON.
Prices checked Oct 21, 2026 · tracked by LLM Cost Index since Oct 21, 2026
Cheaper ways to run the same model: o4 Mini (batch) at $0.55 / $2.20 — same model, different service (e.g. batch processing with a delay).
What o4 Mini costs per month
Estimated monthly bill for typical workloads, using the cached-input price for repeated context. Try your own numbers in the cost calculator.
| Workload | Per month |
|---|---|
| Customer chatbot 1,000 conversations a day, 8 turns each | $587 |
| Document Q&A (RAG) 500 questions a day over retrieved documents | $125 |
| Coding / tool-using agent 200 tasks a day, long tool-heavy contexts | $279 |
| Content generation 30 long articles a day | $12.87 |
| Classification / extraction 100,000 short items a day | $1,188 |
Price history
We started tracking o4 Mini on Oct 21, 2026; the chart appears as soon as there is a second data point. See all recent price changes.
Cheaper alternatives to o4 Mini
Models with the same tool calling, image input, structured output for at least 20% less (3:1 input/output mix), most capable first.
| Model | Input / 1M | Output / 1M | Context | Capabilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MiMo-V2.6-Pro Xiaomi | $0.435 | $0.87 | 1.05M | visionaudiotoolsreasoningJSONopen weights |
| Step 5 Preview Stepfun | $1.00 | $2.70 | 1.05M | visiontoolsreasoningJSONopen weights |
| Claude Haiku 5.5 Anthropic | $0.10 | $0.50 | 1M | visiontoolsreasoningJSON |
| GLM 5.3 Flash Z.ai | $0.041 | $0.12 | 1.05M | visiontoolsreasoningJSONopen weights |
| Gemini 3.7 Flash | $0.75 | $3.75 | 1.05M | visionaudiotoolsreasoningJSON |
How to pay less for o4 Mini
For a customer chatbot (1,000 conversations a day, 8 turns each) that costs $766 a month at list price without caching:
| Option | Per month | You save |
|---|---|---|
| Move to MiMo-V2.6-Pro (similar capabilities) | $136 | $629 (82%) |
| Switch to o4 Mini (batch) | $383 | $383 (50%) |
| Use prompt caching (60% of input cached) | $587 | $178 (23%) |
Other workloads: cut-your-bill tool for o4 Mini.
Specifications
| Model ID | openai/o4-mini |
| Input | image, text, file |
| Output | text |
| Tool calling | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes |
| Reasoning mode | Yes |
| Open weights | No |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-06-30 |
| Released | Apr 16, 2025 |
| Web search | $0.01 per request |
FAQ
- How much does o4 Mini cost?
- $1.10 per million input tokens and $4.40 per million output tokens; cached input costs $0.275 per million. Prices as of Oct 21, 2026.
- What is the context window of o4 Mini?
- 200K tokens, with up to 100K output tokens per response.
- Does o4 Mini support images, tools and structured output?
- Images as input: yes. Tool calling: yes. Structured (JSON) output: yes. Reasoning mode: yes.
- What are cheaper alternatives to o4 Mini?
- Models with the same key capabilities for at least 20% less include MiMo-V2.6-Pro ($0.435 / $0.87), Step 5 Preview ($1.00 / $2.70), Claude Haiku 5.5 ($0.10 / $0.50).
More from OpenAI: all OpenAI models · how we collect prices