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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct vs GPT-4.1 mini

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 mini 60, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 58). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Meta

    Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct

    Released Apr 5, 2025

    58/100
    • ECI132.2
    • Price$0.321 / $0.91
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct

  2. 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. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 58/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-4.1 mini for raw capability and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-4.1 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.2
  • Lowest priceLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct $0.468 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniLlama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct: Text, Images · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructGPT-4.1 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5659
Price25%6657
Inputs & features15%5070
Context window10%6061
Overall100%58/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct vs GPT-4.1 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationLlama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMetaGPT-4.1 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)132.2135.0 (best)
ECI rank#122 of 148#115 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions67.0% (best)65.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—6.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics20.6%44.7% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—12.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.321 (best)$0.40
Output$0.91 (best)$1.60
Cached input—$0.10
Blended (3:1)$0.468 (best)$0.70
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 6 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens1,047,576 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gpt-4.1-mini
API providers624 (best)
ReleasedApr 5, 2025Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoffAug 2024Apr 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.

  • Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct$5.03
  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or GPT-4.1 mini?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 3 points (GPT-4.1 mini 60/100, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 58/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-4.1 mini for raw capability and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct or GPT-4.1 mini?

Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct is cheaper at $0.321 input / $0.91 output per million tokens (median across 6 API providers). GPT-4.1 mini costs $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.468 per million tokens for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct versus $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (1.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-4.1 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148) and Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 132.2 (#122 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (131.2–136.6 vs 128.0–134.1), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 67.0%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%, Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct 20.6%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct and GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4.1 mini leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 1,000,000 for Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct. Maximum output per response: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct up to 16,384, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct accepts text and images; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 mini is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct came out Apr 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Llama 4 Maverick 17B Instruct Aug 2024, GPT-4.1 mini Apr 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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