o4-mini-deep-research vs o3-mini vs solar-mini
o4-mini-deep-research comes out ahead, 49 to 40 and 15 on our weighted score.
- Our pick
OpenAIo4-mini-deep-research
49/100- ECI—
- Price—
- Context200K
- OpenAI
o3-mini
40/100- ECI140.3
- Price$1.10 / $4.40
- Context200K
Upstage
solar-mini
15/100- ECI—
- Price$0.15 / $0.15
- Context33K
o4-mini-deep-research is our pick
o4-mini-deep-research is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against o3-mini (40) and solar-mini (15). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
- CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
- Lowest pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · o3-mini $1.93 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · o4-mini-deep-research unpriced
- Longest contexto4-mini-deep-research and o3-minio4-mini-deep-research 200,000 · o3-mini 200,000 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
- Widest inputso4-mini-deep-researcho4-mini-deep-research: Text, Images · o3-mini: Text · solar-mini: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | o4-mini-deep-research | o3-mini | solar-mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inputs & features | 60% | 60 | 45 | 25 |
| Context window | 40% | 32 | 32 | 0 |
| Overall | 100% | 49/100 | 40/100 | 15/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability and price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | o4-mini-deep-researchOpenAI | o3-miniOpenAI | solar-miniUpstage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | — | 140.3 | — |
| ECI rank | — | #98 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | — | 77.0% | — |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 18.6% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | — | 76.9% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 15.3% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | — | $1.10 | $0.15 (best) |
| Output | — | $4.40 | $0.15 (best) |
| Cached input | — | $0.55 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | — | $1.93 | $0.15 (best) |
| Long-context rate | — | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | — | Official OpenAI API | Official Upstage API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 200,000 tokens (best) | 200,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Max output | 100,000 tokens (best) | 100,000 tokens (best) | 4,096 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | No | No |
| PDFs | No | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | o3-mini | solar-mini |
| API providers | — | 15 (best) | 1 |
| Released | Jun 26, 2024 | Jan 31, 2025 | Jun 12, 2024 |
| Knowledge cutoff | May 2024 | May 2024 | Sep 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- o4-mini-deep-research—
- o3-mini$19.80
- solar-mini$1.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: o4-mini-deep-research, o3-mini or solar-mini?
o4-mini-deep-research is the better all-round choice, scoring 49/100 against o3-mini (40) and solar-mini (15). It leads on inputs & features. The score weighs inputs & features 60%, context window 40%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.
Which is cheaper, o4-mini-deep-research, o3-mini or solar-mini?
solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). o3-mini costs $1.10 input / $4.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $1.93 for o3-mini (13× as much). o4-mini-deep-research has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. o4-mini-deep-research has not been scored yet, o3-mini has an ECI of 140.3 and solar-mini has not been scored yet.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for o4-mini-deep-research, o3-mini and solar-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
o4-mini-deep-research and o3-mini have the largest context windows (200,000 and 200,000 tokens), against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: o4-mini-deep-research up to 100,000, o3-mini up to 100,000, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
o4-mini-deep-research accepts text and images; o3-mini accepts text; solar-mini accepts text. o4-mini-deep-research handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. o4-mini-deep-research, o3-mini and solar-mini are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
o3-mini is the newest, released Jan 31, 2025. o4-mini-deep-research came out Jun 26, 2024; solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: o4-mini-deep-research May 2024, o3-mini May 2024, solar-mini Sep 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.
