The best bang-for-buck reasoning model for STEM and coding tasks that can tolerate slow response times.
88
Coding
45
Writing
80
Research
0
Images
72
Value
75
Long Context
Use this when
Solving hard math, competitive programming, and multi-step logical reasoning problems where accuracy matters more than speed.
Skip this if
Avoid if you need fast responses, creative writing quality, or real-time conversational use — the high reasoning effort makes it too slow for those scenarios.
Pricing
$1.10/1M in
$4.40/1M out
→0%since May 2026
Context
200k tokens
Speed
Deliberate
The 'High' suffix refers to the reasoning_effort parameter set to 'high', which increases token usage and latency significantly versus o3 Mini at medium or low effort. Priced at $1.1/$4.4 per million tokens, it is far cheaper than o1 ($15/$60) and full o3, making it attractive for batch workloads.
Maximum reasoning effort setting produces near-o1-level accuracy on STEM benchmarks at a fraction of the cost
200K context window allows reasoning over large codebases or lengthy technical documents
Outperforms Claude Sonnet 4.6 and Gemini 3.1 Pro on competition math (AIME) and coding (Codeforces) benchmarks
Significantly cheaper than o3 full or o1 while retaining strong logical precision
Weaknesses
Slow output due to high reasoning effort — not suitable for latency-sensitive or conversational applications
Weak at creative writing, nuanced prose, and open-ended generative tasks compared to GPT-5.4 or Claude Sonnet 4.6
No image generation or native multimodal output capabilities
Real-world use cases
What people actually use o3 Mini High for.
Solving AIME-level competition math problems with step-by-step derivations
Debugging complex algorithmic code and identifying off-by-one errors in dynamic programming solutions
Analyzing and synthesizing a 150-page technical research paper to extract key findings and methodology gaps
How o3 Mini High compares
The nearest models people weigh against it, and what actually separates them.
vs o3 Mini — Against o3 Mini (OpenAI), o3 Mini High lands within a few percent on price and answers slower. Which one wins depends on whether context depth or latency is your constraint.
vs o4 Mini — Against o4 Mini (OpenAI), o3 Mini High lands within a few percent on price and answers slower. Which one wins depends on whether context depth or latency is your constraint.
vs GPT-3.5 Turbo (older v0613) — Against GPT-3.5 Turbo (older v0613) (OpenAI), o3 Mini High costs about 45% more per token, takes 48.8x the context and answers slower. GPT-3.5 Turbo (older v0613) is the one to check first if the price difference matters more than the ceiling.
Price History
o3 Mini High pricing over time
→0% since May 31
90 data points · tracked daily since May 31, 2026
Ready to try it?
Start using o3 Mini High
Solving hard math, competitive programming, and multi-step logical reasoning problems where accuracy matters more than speed.. Start free — no card required.
OpenAI's o3 Mini is a compact reasoning model optimized for STEM tasks, offering chain-of-thought capabilities at a fraction of the cost of o3. It excels at math, coding, and logical problem-solving while maintaining a large 200K context window.
Verdict
The most cost-efficient way to access serious chain-of-thought reasoning for STEM and coding work.
Quality score
68%
Pricing
$1.10/1M in
$4.40/1M out
Speed
Deliberate
2/5 speed
Context
200k tokens
Supports three reasoning effort settings via the API (low, medium, high), which significantly affect latency and token usage. No vision/image input support. Available via OpenAI API and ChatGPT Plus.
o4 Mini is OpenAI's compact reasoning model that applies chain-of-thought thinking to complex problems at a fraction of the cost of o4. It delivers strong mathematical, coding, and logical reasoning capabilities while remaining accessible to developers on tighter budgets.
Verdict
The most cost-efficient reasoning model for serious STEM and coding workloads.
Quality score
70%
Pricing
$1.10/1M in
$4.40/1M out
Speed
Deliberate
2/5 speed
Context
200k tokens
Priced at $1.1/$4.4 per 1M tokens (input/output), o4 Mini is significantly cheaper than o3 ($10/$40) and o4. Output tokens are 4x the input price, so verbose reasoning traces can add up — use max_completion_tokens limits in production pipelines.
ReasoningSTEMBudget-FriendlyLong ContextCoding
Best for
Developers and analysts who need serious reasoning power for STEM tasks without paying full o4 or o3 prices.
An older versioned snapshot of GPT-3.5 Turbo (v0613), OpenAI's once-dominant mid-tier language model optimized for fast chat completions and instruction following. This specific checkpoint is frozen in time, predating later capability improvements introduced in subsequent GPT-3.5 Turbo updates.
Verdict
A once-useful workhorse now completely overshadowed by cheaper, more capable successors.
Quality score
31%
Pricing
$1.00/1M in
$2.00/1M out
Speed
Very fast
5/5 speed
Context
4k tokens
This is a pinned legacy snapshot (v0613) and may eventually be deprecated by OpenAI. The 4,095-token context window is its most significant practical limitation. OpenAI's own GPT-4o mini offers drastically more context and better quality at a comparable price — strongly consider migrating.
LegacyBudgetFastShort ContextOpenAI
Best for
High-volume, cost-sensitive text tasks like classification, summarization, and simple Q&A where bleeding-edge quality is not required.
o3 Mini High costs $1.1 per million input tokens and $4.4 per million output tokens on the API. A month of 10M input and 2M output tokens runs about $19.80 at list price, before any batch or caching discounts.
What is o3 Mini High best for?
o3 Mini High is best for solving hard math, competitive programming, and multi-step logical reasoning problems where accuracy matters more than speed.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around balanced pricing and deliberate speed.
When should I avoid o3 Mini High?
Avoid if you need fast responses, creative writing quality, or real-time conversational use — the high reasoning effort makes it too slow for those scenarios.
What is a cheaper alternative to o3 Mini High?
GPT-3.5 Turbo (older v0613) (OpenAI) at $1.00/1M/1M input against o3 Mini High's $1.10/1M/1M — roughly 45% less per token all in. A once-useful workhorse now completely overshadowed by cheaper, more capable successors. Compare it first if o3 Mini High's pricing is the thing stopping you.
What is a faster alternative to o3 Mini High?
o3 Mini — deliberate against o3 Mini High's deliberate, with 200k tokens of context. Worth the swap when response time is what your users notice rather than the last few points of reasoning depth.
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