o3 vs o3-mini
o3 comes out ahead, 58 to 52 on our weighted score, though o3-mini is 45% cheaper per token.
o3 is our pick
o3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against o3-mini (52). It leads on capability and inputs & features. o3-mini wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- Capabilityo3Capabilities Index (ECI): o3 146.9 · o3-mini 140.3
- Lowest priceo3-minio3-mini $1.93 · o3 $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextAbout the sameo3 200,000 · o3-mini 200,000 tokens
- Widest inputso3o3: Text, Images, PDFs · o3-mini: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | o3 | o3-mini |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 74 | 66 |
| Price | 25% | 24 | 36 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 45 |
| Context window | 10% | 32 | 32 |
| Overall | 100% | 58/100 | 52/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification |  o3OpenAI | o3-miniOpenAI |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 146.9 (best) | 140.3 |
| ECI rank | #63 of 148 (best) | #98 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 81.8% (best) | 77.0% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 33.3% (best) | 18.6% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 84.4% (best) | 76.9% |
| SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues | 62.3% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 49.4% (best) | 15.3% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $2.00 | $1.10 (best) |
| Output | $8.00 | $4.40 (best) |
| Cached input | $0.50 (best) | $0.55 |
| Blended (3:1) | $3.50 | $1.93 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Max output | 100,000 tokens | 100,000 tokens |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yeslow · medium · high | Yeslow · medium · high |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | o3 | o3-mini |
| API providers | 18 (best) | 15 |
| Released | Apr 16, 2025 | Jan 31, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | May 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- o3$36.00
- o3-mini$19.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: o3 or o3-mini?
o3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 58/100 against o3-mini (52). It leads on capability and inputs & features. o3-mini wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, o3 or o3-mini?
o3-mini is cheaper at $1.10 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). o3 costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.93 per million tokens for o3-mini versus $3.50 for o3 (1.8× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
o3 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): o3 146.9 (#63 of 148) and o3-mini 140.3 (#98 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (144.9–148.6 vs 137.4–141.9), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — o3 81.8%, o3-mini 77.0%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — o3 33.3%, o3-mini 18.6%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — o3 84.4%, o3-mini 76.9%; SimpleQA Verified — o3 49.4%, o3-mini 15.3%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for o3-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, o3 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?
o3 and o3-mini share the same 200,000-token context window. Maximum output per response: o3 up to 100,000, o3-mini up to 100,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
o3 accepts text, images and PDFs; o3-mini accepts text. o3 handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. o3 and o3-mini are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
o3 is the newest, released Apr 16, 2025. o3-mini came out Jan 31, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: o3 May 2024, o3-mini May 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.
