Head-to-head · Updated March 2026

Data verified September 2026

GPT-4o Mini vs Claude 4 Haiku

GPT-4o Mini and Claude 4 Haiku are the two most popular budget AI APIs. GPT-4o Mini wins on price ($0.15 vs $0.80/1M input — 5× cheaper) and versatility. Claude 4 Haiku wins on writing quality — Anthropic's training advantage shows at every price tier. For bulk classification, extraction, or summarization pipelines where cost is the constraint, GPT-4o Mini is the stronger default. For automations where output quality is read by humans, Claude 4 Haiku is worth the modest premium.

OpenAIBudget

GPT-4o Mini

OpenAI's fastest, cheapest option for everyday high-volume tasks.

Winner

AnthropicBudget

Claude 4 Haiku

Best low-cost writing option for fast-moving content teams.

At a glance

	GPT-4o Mini	Claude 4 Haiku
Input cost / 1M tokens	$$0.15/1M	$$0.80/1M
Output cost / 1M tokens	$$0.60/1M	$$4.00/1M
Context window	128k tokens	200k tokens
Speed	Very fast	Very fast
Price tier	Budget	Budget
Benchmarks
SWE-bench (coding)	23.6%	43%
Arena Elo	1,235	1,210
MMLU	82%	80%

How they compare

Which model wins for each use case — and why.

CostGPT-4o Mini wins

GPT-4o Mini costs $0.15/1M input vs Claude 4 Haiku's $0.80/1M — 5× cheaper. At 1 billion tokens/month, GPT Mini saves $650.

Writing QualityClaude 4 Haiku wins

Claude 4 Haiku produces more natural, tonally consistent writing. Anthropic's quality advantage is visible even at the budget tier.

SpeedGPT-4o Mini wins

GPT-4o Mini is very fast with excellent throughput for high-frequency pipelines. Both are fast, but Mini has the edge on raw speed.

CodingClaude 4 Haiku wins

Claude 4 Haiku handles light coding tasks slightly better, though neither is suitable for serious software development.

EcosystemGPT-4o Mini wins

GPT-4o Mini benefits from OpenAI's mature API — better documentation, structured output support, and broader integrations.

Which should you pick?

Pick GPT-4o Mini if…

Cost is the primary constraint — GPT-4o Mini is 5× cheaper per token
Your pipeline is classification, extraction, or summarization at scale
You're already in the OpenAI ecosystem and want the cheapest option
Speed and throughput are critical for your application

View GPT-4o Mini details

Pick Claude 4 Haiku if…

Your pipeline generates text that gets read — emails, replies, captions, short copy
Writing tone, naturalness, and Anthropic's style quality matter at budget tier
You want consistency with Anthropic's larger models in the same pipeline

View Claude 4 Haiku details

Bottom line

For most workflows, GPT-4o Mini is the stronger choice.

The go-to when you need OpenAI reliability at budget pricing for high-volume, lower-stakes tasks.

The case for each model

What each one is genuinely good at, where it falls down, and when we would steer you away from it.

GPT-4o Mini

Overall winnerOpenAI

Our overall pick in this comparison. Against Claude 4 Haiku it costs about 84% less per token.

OpenAI's most affordable production-grade model — faster and cheaper than GPT-4o with strong enough performance for the majority of everyday tasks.

Input: $0.15/1M
Output: $0.60/1M
Context: 128k tokens
Speed: Very fast

What people actually use it for

Customer support and classification pipelines where speed and low cost matter more than frontier quality
Content drafting, summarisation, and editing at scale
Lightweight coding assistance and code explanation for simpler tasks

Where it wins

Extremely low cost at $0.15/1M input — among the cheapest OpenAI models
Very fast response times suitable for interactive user-facing apps
Strong enough for most writing, summarisation, and classification tasks

Where it falls down

Noticeably weaker than GPT-5.2 Mini on complex reasoning and multi-step tasks
Not suitable for hard coding challenges or deep document research
DeepSeek V3 now offers better coding quality at comparable pricing

Skip it if

You need strong reasoning or coding — GPT-5.2 Mini or DeepSeek V3 are better at similar or lower cost.

Our verdict

The go-to when you need OpenAI reliability at budget pricing for high-volume, lower-stakes tasks.

Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the GPT-4o Mini page.

Claude 4 Haiku

Anthropic

The runner-up here, but not by a wide margin. Against GPT-4o Mini it costs about 84% more per token and takes 2x the context.

Fast and affordable Anthropic option that keeps writing quality surprisingly high for the price.

Input: $0.80/1M
Output: $4.00/1M
Context: 200k tokens
Speed: Very fast

What people actually use it for

Generating product descriptions and support email drafts at scale
Fast translation and summarization pipelines without premium model costs
Running classification and content-extraction tasks across large content batches

Where it wins

Fastest Anthropic model with better-than-expected writing quality
Good for support, marketing ops, and editing passes at scale
Affordable for high-frequency team usage

Where it falls down

Less strong on deep reasoning and coding than larger models
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is now cheaper with a larger context window

Skip it if

Cost is your only concern — Gemini 3.1 Flash offers similar value with a larger context window.

Our verdict

The best pick when you want Anthropic quality at a budget price point — especially for writing-heavy automations.

Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the Claude 4 Haiku page.

Frequently asked questions

Is GPT-4o Mini or Claude Haiku better?

GPT-4o Mini is better on cost (5× cheaper) and versatility. Claude 4 Haiku is better on writing quality. Choose GPT Mini for volume/classification and Claude Haiku for writing-first automations.

How much cheaper is GPT-4o Mini than Claude Haiku?

GPT-4o Mini costs $0.15/1M input vs Claude 4 Haiku's $0.80/1M — 5× cheaper. Output is $0.60 vs $4/1M — about 7× cheaper. The cost difference is significant at scale.

Is there a better budget AI than both?

Gemini 3.1 Flash ($0.50/1M, 1M context window) and DeepSeek V3 ($0.27/1M) are often stronger budget picks. Compare all four before committing to one.

Related comparisons

Comparison

Claude Haiku vs GPT MiniClaude 4 Haiku vs GPT-5.2 Mini compared on price, writing quality, speed, context window…Read guide

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Gemini Flash vs GPT-4o MiniGemini 2.0 Flash vs GPT-4o Mini compared on speed, cost, coding, and use cases.…Read guide

Guide

Best Cheap AIThe cheapest AI models ranked by real value: GPT-4o Mini at $0.15/1M, Gemini Flash…Read guide

Budget Question

Which AI Is Cheapest?Find the cheapest AI APIs, the best cheap default, and when the lowest price…Read guide

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GPT-4o Mini vs Claude 4 Haiku

GPT-4o Mini

Claude 4 Haiku

Input cost / 1M tokens

$$0.15/1M

$$0.80/1M

Output cost / 1M tokens

$$0.60/1M

$$4.00/1M

Context window

128k tokens

200k tokens

Speed

Very fast

Price tier

Budget

Benchmarks

SWE-bench (coding)

23.6%

43%

Arena Elo

1,235

1,210

MMLU

82%

80%

How they compare

Which model wins for each use case — and why.

CostGPT-4o Mini wins

GPT-4o Mini costs $0.15/1M input vs Claude 4 Haiku's $0.80/1M — 5× cheaper. At 1 billion tokens/month, GPT Mini saves $650.

Writing QualityClaude 4 Haiku wins

Claude 4 Haiku produces more natural, tonally consistent writing. Anthropic's quality advantage is visible even at the budget tier.

SpeedGPT-4o Mini wins

GPT-4o Mini is very fast with excellent throughput for high-frequency pipelines. Both are fast, but Mini has the edge on raw speed.

CodingClaude 4 Haiku wins

Claude 4 Haiku handles light coding tasks slightly better, though neither is suitable for serious software development.

EcosystemGPT-4o Mini wins

GPT-4o Mini benefits from OpenAI's mature API — better documentation, structured output support, and broader integrations.

Which should you pick?

Pick GPT-4o Mini if…

Cost is the primary constraint — GPT-4o Mini is 5× cheaper per token
Your pipeline is classification, extraction, or summarization at scale
You're already in the OpenAI ecosystem and want the cheapest option
Speed and throughput are critical for your application

View GPT-4o Mini details

Pick Claude 4 Haiku if…

Your pipeline generates text that gets read — emails, replies, captions, short copy
Writing tone, naturalness, and Anthropic's style quality matter at budget tier
You want consistency with Anthropic's larger models in the same pipeline

View Claude 4 Haiku details

The case for each model

What each one is genuinely good at, where it falls down, and when we would steer you away from it.

GPT-4o Mini

Overall winnerOpenAI

Our overall pick in this comparison. Against Claude 4 Haiku it costs about 84% less per token.

OpenAI's most affordable production-grade model — faster and cheaper than GPT-4o with strong enough performance for the majority of everyday tasks.

Input: $0.15/1M
Output: $0.60/1M
Context: 128k tokens
Speed: Very fast

What people actually use it for

Customer support and classification pipelines where speed and low cost matter more than frontier quality
Content drafting, summarisation, and editing at scale
Lightweight coding assistance and code explanation for simpler tasks

Where it wins

Extremely low cost at $0.15/1M input — among the cheapest OpenAI models
Very fast response times suitable for interactive user-facing apps
Strong enough for most writing, summarisation, and classification tasks

Where it falls down

Noticeably weaker than GPT-5.2 Mini on complex reasoning and multi-step tasks
Not suitable for hard coding challenges or deep document research
DeepSeek V3 now offers better coding quality at comparable pricing

Skip it if

You need strong reasoning or coding — GPT-5.2 Mini or DeepSeek V3 are better at similar or lower cost.

Our verdict

The go-to when you need OpenAI reliability at budget pricing for high-volume, lower-stakes tasks.

Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the GPT-4o Mini page.

Claude 4 Haiku

Anthropic

The runner-up here, but not by a wide margin. Against GPT-4o Mini it costs about 84% more per token and takes 2x the context.

Fast and affordable Anthropic option that keeps writing quality surprisingly high for the price.

Input: $0.80/1M
Output: $4.00/1M
Context: 200k tokens
Speed: Very fast

What people actually use it for

Generating product descriptions and support email drafts at scale
Fast translation and summarization pipelines without premium model costs
Running classification and content-extraction tasks across large content batches

Where it wins

Fastest Anthropic model with better-than-expected writing quality
Good for support, marketing ops, and editing passes at scale
Affordable for high-frequency team usage

Where it falls down

Less strong on deep reasoning and coding than larger models
Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite is now cheaper with a larger context window

Skip it if

Cost is your only concern — Gemini 3.1 Flash offers similar value with a larger context window.

Our verdict

The best pick when you want Anthropic quality at a budget price point — especially for writing-heavy automations.

Full pricing, benchmark table and release notes on the Claude 4 Haiku page.

Frequently asked questions

Is GPT-4o Mini or Claude Haiku better?

GPT-4o Mini is better on cost (5× cheaper) and versatility. Claude 4 Haiku is better on writing quality. Choose GPT Mini for volume/classification and Claude Haiku for writing-first automations.

How much cheaper is GPT-4o Mini than Claude Haiku?

GPT-4o Mini costs $0.15/1M input vs Claude 4 Haiku's $0.80/1M — 5× cheaper. Output is $0.60 vs $4/1M — about 7× cheaper. The cost difference is significant at scale.

Is there a better budget AI than both?

Gemini 3.1 Flash ($0.50/1M, 1M context window) and DeepSeek V3 ($0.27/1M) are often stronger budget picks. Compare all four before committing to one.