ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 vs GPT-4.1 mini vs Claude Sonnet 3.7

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 60 to 53 and 50 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI136.8
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  3. Anthropic

    Claude Sonnet 3.7

    Released Feb 19, 2025

    50/100
    • ECI141.2
    • Price$3.00 / $15.00
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove Claude Sonnet 3.7
01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 mini is our pick

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against GPT-4.1 (53) and Claude Sonnet 3.7 (50). It leads on price. Claude Sonnet 3.7 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityClaude Sonnet 3.7Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 3.7 141.2 · GPT-4.1 136.8 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · GPT-4.1 $3.50 · Claude Sonnet 3.7 $6.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 1,047,576 · GPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Claude Sonnet 3.7 200,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-4.1: Text, Images, PDFs · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Claude Sonnet 3.7: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 miniClaude Sonnet 3.7
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%615967
Price25%245713
Inputs & features15%707070
Context window10%616132
Overall100%53/10060/10050/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-4.1 vs GPT-4.1 mini vs Claude Sonnet 3.7 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1OpenAIGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIClaude Sonnet 3.7Anthropic
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.8135.0141.2 (best)
ECI rank#111 of 148#115 of 148#96 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions66.9%65.9%79.7% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.0%6.7% (best)—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics38.3%44.7%57.8% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues48.5%—61.0% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions31.1% (best)12.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.40 (best)$3.00
Output$8.00$1.60 (best)$15.00
Cached input$0.50$0.10 (best)—
Blended (3:1)$3.50$0.70 (best)$6.00
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 3 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)1,047,576 tokens (best)200,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens64,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesYesYes
PDFsYesYesYes
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-4.1gpt-4.1-mini—
API providers25 (best)243
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Apr 14, 2025Feb 19, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Apr 2024Oct 31, 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • GPT-4.1$36.00
  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
  • Claude Sonnet 3.7$60.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini or Claude Sonnet 3.7?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against GPT-4.1 (53) and Claude Sonnet 3.7 (50). It leads on price. Claude Sonnet 3.7 wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini or Claude Sonnet 3.7?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). GPT-4.1 costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Claude Sonnet 3.7 costs $3.00 input / $15.00 output per million tokens (median across 3 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.70 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 mini versus $3.50 for GPT-4.1 (5× as much) and $6.00 for Claude Sonnet 3.7 (8.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Claude Sonnet 3.7 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Claude Sonnet 3.7 141.2 (#96 of 148), GPT-4.1 136.8 (#111 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (138.7–142.9 vs 133.6–138.4), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Claude Sonnet 3.7 79.7%, GPT-4.1 66.9%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Claude Sonnet 3.7 57.8%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%, GPT-4.1 38.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Claude Sonnet 3.7 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 and GPT-4.1 mini have the largest context windows (1,047,576 and 1,047,576 tokens), against 200,000 for Claude Sonnet 3.7. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 up to 32,768, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Claude Sonnet 3.7 up to 64,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Claude Sonnet 3.7 accepts text, images and PDFs. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-4.1, GPT-4.1 mini and Claude Sonnet 3.7 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; Claude Sonnet 3.7 came out Feb 19, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 Apr 2024, GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Claude Sonnet 3.7 Oct 31, 2024.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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