Maximum-effort reasoning at mid-tier pricing — excellent for hard problems, overkill for everything else.
88
Coding
52
Writing
85
Research
0
Images
62
Value
82
Long Context
Use this when
Developers and researchers who need strong reasoning accuracy on hard STEM, math, or logic problems without paying full o3 pricing.
Skip this if
You need fast, conversational responses or primarily creative writing — the deliberate reasoning overhead and mechanical tone make it a poor fit for those workflows.
Pricing
$1.10/1M in
$4.40/1M out
→0%since May 2026
Context
200k tokens
Speed
Deliberate
The 'High' suffix denotes maximum reasoning effort, distinct from o4 Mini (balanced) and o4 Mini Low. Higher effort means higher token consumption in internal reasoning traces, which can push effective cost above the stated $1.1/$4.4 per million for very complex queries. No image generation capability.
High reasoning effort setting pushes accuracy on competition-math and logic benchmarks close to o3 at a fraction of the cost
200K context window handles large codebases, lengthy research papers, or multi-document analysis
Significantly cheaper than o3 or GPT-5 class models for reasoning-intensive tasks
Strong code debugging and algorithm design thanks to extended internal chain-of-thought
Weaknesses
Slower than o4 Mini (default) or o4 Mini Low due to maximum reasoning effort — noticeably deliberate latency per response
No native image generation; multimodal input is limited compared to GPT-4o or Gemini 3.1 Pro
Writing and creative tasks feel mechanical — Claude Sonnet 4.6 or GPT-5.4 produce far more natural prose
Real-world use cases
What people actually use o4 Mini High for.
Solving multi-step competition mathematics problems (AMC/AIME level) with step-by-step verification
Automated code review of a 50K-token Python monorepo to identify logic errors and suggest refactors
Synthesizing findings across a 150-page research corpus and generating a structured literature review
How o4 Mini High compares
The nearest models people weigh against it, and what actually separates them.
vs GPT-4 Turbo — Against GPT-4 Turbo (OpenAI), o4 Mini High runs about 86% cheaper per token, takes 1.6x the context and answers slower. Which one wins depends on whether context depth or latency is your constraint.
vs GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) — Against GPT-4 Turbo (older v1106) (OpenAI), o4 Mini High runs about 86% cheaper per token, takes 1.6x the context and answers slower. Which one wins depends on whether context depth or latency is your constraint.
vs GPT-4 Turbo Preview — Against GPT-4 Turbo Preview (OpenAI), o4 Mini High runs about 86% cheaper per token, takes 1.6x the context and answers slower. Which one wins depends on whether context depth or latency is your constraint.
Price History
o4 Mini High pricing over time
→0% since May 30
90 data points · tracked daily since May 30, 2026
Ready to try it?
Start using o4 Mini High
Developers and researchers who need strong reasoning accuracy on hard STEM, math, or logic problems without paying full o3 pricing.. Start free — no card required.
GPT-4 Turbo is OpenAI's high-capability flagship model featuring a 128K context window, trained on data up to April 2024. It delivers strong reasoning, coding, and instruction-following across complex tasks.
Verdict
A capable but aging flagship that has been outpaced by cheaper, faster successors in OpenAI's own lineup.
Quality score
75%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
3/5 speed
Context
128k tokens
GPT-4 Turbo is available via the OpenAI API. It has largely been succeeded by GPT-4o, which is faster, supports vision natively, and is cheaper. Organizations should evaluate whether migrating to GPT-4o or o3 makes more sense before building new workflows on this model.
GPT-4 Turbo (v1106) is an older snapshot of OpenAI's flagship GPT-4 Turbo model released in November 2023, offering a 128K context window with strong general-purpose reasoning and instruction-following capabilities. It predates later GPT-4 Turbo updates and GPT-4o, making it a legacy choice for workflows locked to this specific version.
Verdict
A reliable but outdated GPT-4 snapshot that only makes sense when version pinning is a hard requirement.
Quality score
66%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
3/5 speed
Context
128k tokens
This is a pinned model snapshot (v1106) and will not receive capability updates. OpenAI may deprecate older snapshots over time. Knowledge cutoff is April 2023. Not recommended for new deployments given the superior cost-performance of GPT-4o and GPT-4.1.
Legacy128K ContextPinned SnapshotGPT-4Premium
Best for
Teams requiring a pinned, stable version of GPT-4 Turbo for reproducible outputs in long-document analysis or complex instruction pipelines.
GPT-4 Turbo Preview is an early access version of GPT-4 Turbo, OpenAI's then-flagship model featuring a 128K context window and knowledge improvements over the original GPT-4. It was designed to deliver GPT-4-class reasoning at reduced cost compared to the original GPT-4.
Verdict
A once-capable flagship now overshadowed by faster, cheaper, and smarter successors.
Quality score
67%
Pricing
$10.00/1M in
$30.00/1M out
Speed
Balanced
3/5 speed
Context
128k tokens
This is a 'preview' variant that OpenAI has largely deprecated in favor of gpt-4-turbo and gpt-4o. The endpoint may be retired or redirected by OpenAI without notice. Check the OpenAI model deprecation schedule before building production applications on this model.
GPT-4Long ContextLegacyPremiumOpenAI
Best for
Complex multi-step reasoning, long-document analysis, and professional writing tasks requiring strong instruction-following.
OpenAI: o4 Mini High (OpenAI) is now indexed. Maximum-effort reasoning at mid-tier pricing — excellent for hard problems, overkill for everything else.
o4 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 o4 Mini High best for?
o4 Mini High is best for developers and researchers who need strong reasoning accuracy on hard stem, math, or logic problems without paying full o3 pricing.. It is a strong fit when that workflow matters more than the tradeoffs around balanced pricing and deliberate speed.
When should I avoid o4 Mini High?
You need fast, conversational responses or primarily creative writing — the deliberate reasoning overhead and mechanical tone make it a poor fit for those workflows.
What is a cheaper alternative to o4 Mini High?
GPT-5.1-Codex-Max (OpenAI) at $1.25/1M/1M input against o4 Mini High's $1.10/1M/1M. The strongest choice for serious software engineering work, provided you can absorb the output-side pricing. Compare it first if o4 Mini High's pricing is the thing stopping you.
What is a faster alternative to o4 Mini High?
GPT-4 Turbo — balanced against o4 Mini High's deliberate, with 128k 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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