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Compare o4-mini and o3-mini. Build AI products powered by either model on Appaca.
Model Comparison
| Feature | o4-mini | o3-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Model Type | text | text |
| Context Window | 200,000 tokens | 200,000 tokens |
| Input Cost | $1.10/ 1M tokens | $1.10/ 1M tokens |
| Output Cost | $4.40/ 1M tokens | $4.40/ 1M tokens |
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Build your first app freeStrengths & Best Use Cases
o4-mini
OpenAI1. Fast and efficient reasoning
- Provides strong reasoning capabilities with significantly lower latency and cost compared to larger o-series models.
- Ideal for lightweight reasoning tasks, logic steps, and quick multi-step thinking.
2. Optimized for coding tasks
- Performs exceptionally well in code generation, debugging, and explanation.
- Useful for IDE integrations, coding assistants, and developer tools with tight latency budgets.
3. Strong visual reasoning
- Accepts image inputs for tasks such as diagram interpretation, charts, UI analysis, and visual logic.
- Great for hybrid text-image reasoning flows.
4. Large 200K-token context window
- Capable of processing long documents, multi-file codebases, or extended analysis.
- Reduces need for chunking or external retrieval pipelines.
5. High 100K-token output limit
- Supports lengthy reasoning sequences, full codebase explanations, or multi-section documents.
6. Broad API compatibility
- Available in Chat Completions, Responses, Realtime, Assistants, Batch, Embeddings, and Image workflows.
- Supports streaming, function calling, structured outputs, and fine-tuning.
7. Cost-efficient for production
- Lower input/output pricing makes it suitable for large-scale deployments, SaaS products, and recurring tasks.
8. Succeeded by GPT-5 mini
- GPT-5 mini offers improved speed, reasoning power, and pricing, but o4-mini remains a strong option for cost-sensitive workloads.
o3-mini
OpenAI1. High-intelligence small reasoning model
- Delivers strong reasoning performance in a compact footprint.
- Ideal for tasks that need intelligence but must stay cost-efficient.
2. Excellent for developer workflows
- Supports Structured Outputs, function calling, and Batch API.
- Reliable for backend automation, agents, and data-processing pipelines.
3. Strong text reasoning capabilities
- Handles multi-step logic, natural language analysis, SQL translation, entity extraction, and content generation.
- Works well for landing pages, policy summaries, and knowledge extraction (as shown in built-in examples).
4. 200K context window
- Allows large documents, multi-step analysis, and long-running conversations.
- Reduces the need for aggressive chunking or external retrieval systems.
5. High 100K-token output limit
- Enables long explanations, multi-section documents, or detailed reasoning sequences.
6. Pure text-focused model
- Input/output is text-only (no image or audio support).
- Optimized for language-heavy reasoning and logic tasks.
7. Broad API compatibility
- Works across Chat Completions, Responses, Realtime, Assistants, Embeddings, Image APIs (as tools), and more.
- Supports streaming, function calling, and structured outputs.
8. Cost-efficient for production at scale
- Same cost/performance profile as o1-mini but with higher intelligence.
Prompts to Get Started
Use these prompts to power AI products you build on Appaca. Each works great with the models above.
Best for o4-mini
textScholarship Motivation Letter
Write a persuasive motivation letter for a scholarship application. Communicates need, merit, and future impact.
Travel Health and Safety Guide
Write a destination health and safety guide for travelers. Covers vaccinations, water safety, crime risks, and emergency info.
Travel Reel Script
Script a travel Instagram or TikTok Reel that captures a destination's essence. Designed for high engagement and share-ability.
Best for o3-mini
textEmployee Recognition Message
Write a personalised recognition message to acknowledge an employee's contribution.
Partnership Agreement Outline
Outline the key terms for a business partnership agreement.
SERP Feature Forecasting + Content Structure
Predict likely SERP features for a keyword and structure content to maximize visibility (snippets, PAA, etc.).