GPT-4o Mini vs GPT-5
Benchmark Performance
Available Benchmarks
| Benchmark | GPT-4o Mini | GPT-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Aider Polyglotpolyglot-225-5dc9490bb35f · pass_rate_2 · leader | 3.564% of row best · percent · whole; aider 0.69.2.dev | 88.00100% of row best · percent · diff; aider 0.86.2.dev; reasoning high · 11,659.7 output tokens / case |
| LMArena Text Arenatext-2026-09-01-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,286.2291% of row best · rating · gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18; 95% CI [1282.70478675, 1289.73790661]; votes 68698; rank 245 | 1,405.96100% of row best · rating · gpt-5-high; 95% CI [1401.51371519, 1410.40173213]; votes 31418; rank 132 |
| LMArena Vision Arenavision-2026-08-27-011508720696 · arena_rating · leader | 1,065.6388% of row best · rating · gpt-4o-mini-2024-07-18; 95% CI [1057.40637002, 1073.85507682]; votes 17341; rank 118 | 1,209.17100% of row best · rating · gpt-5-high; 95% CI [1202.30024113, 1216.04249064]; votes 34389; rank 72 |
| ToneBench2026-08-28-10-task-cd9819ab6e4d · overall_score · leader | 58.1375% of row best · points · GPT-4o mini · 1,347 output tokens / case | 77.82100% of row best · points · GPT-5 · 5,896 output tokens / case |
| Overall ResultCounted from the protocol-matched rows above | 0 benchmark wins | 4 benchmark winsOverall lead |
Third-party benchmark Only like-for-like primary-publisher results are shown; raw scores, relative scores, configuration, and token spend remain visible.
Technical Differences
Side-by-Side Facts
| Field | GPT-4o Mini | GPT-5 |
|---|---|---|
| Developer | OpenAI | OpenAI |
| Family | Gpt 4o | Gpt 5 |
| Model | GPT-4o Mini | GPT-5 |
| Version | GPT-4o Mini | GPT-5 |
| Lifecycle | active | active |
| Released | Unknown | 2025-08-07 |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2023-10-01 | 2024-09-30 |
| Input modalities | Text, Image | Text, Image |
| Output modalities | Text | Text |
| Context window | 128,000 | 400,000 |
| Total parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| Active parameters | Unknown | Unknown |
| License | Unknown | Unknown |
| Open weights | No | No |
| API available | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Provider access | Openai (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) | Openai (Standard), Openrouter (Standard) |
| Capabilities | chat, generation, tools | chat, generation, reasoning, structured_outputs, tools |
14 comparable fields · 6 material differences · Pair passes the primary-source comparison gate
GPT-4o Mini Capabilities
GPT-5 Capabilities
Internal Comparison Graph
Related Comparisons
| A | Pair | B | Context |
|---|---|---|---|
GPT-5OpenAI | vs | GPT-5.1OpenAI | family variantsimage, text |
GPT-5OpenAI | vs | GPT-5 MiniOpenAI | family variantsimage, text |
GPT-5OpenAI | vs | Grok 4.5xAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Claude Opus 4.5Anthropic | vs | GPT-5OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
GPT-4oOpenAI | vs | GPT-5OpenAI | family variantsimage, text |
GPT-4o MiniOpenAI | vs | GPT-5.2 ProOpenAI | family variantsimage, text |
GPT-4.1 MiniOpenAI | vs | GPT-4o MiniOpenAI | family variantsimage, text |
Seed 2.1 EvolvingByteDance Seed | vs | GPT-5OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Seed 2.1 TurboByteDance Seed | vs | GPT-5OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Seed 1.8ByteDance Seed | vs | GPT-5OpenAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
GPT-4.1 NanoOpenAI | vs | GPT-4o MiniOpenAI | family variantsimage, text |
GPT-5OpenAI | vs | Grok 4.6xAI | cross-developer peersimage, text |
Primary Evidence
Sources and Freshness
Questions
GPT-4o Mini vs GPT-5 FAQs
Is GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5 better for coding?+
GPT-5 leads the current coding subset with 1 benchmark win to 0. This describes only the matched benchmark rows shown above.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5?+
GPT-4o Mini is $0.075 and GPT-5 is $0.625 per million tokens, so GPT-4o Mini is cheaper on this metric. GPT-4o Mini is $0.30 and GPT-5 is $5.00 per million tokens, so GPT-4o Mini is cheaper on this metric.
Which has a larger context window, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5?+
GPT-5 has the larger sourced context window. GPT-4o Mini supports 128,000 and GPT-5 supports 400,000.
Which performs better in benchmarks, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5?+
GPT-5 leads the current overall benchmark count. The result uses 4 protocol-matched benchmarks from 3 publishers; it is not a universal quality score.
Can GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5 be self-hosted?+
Both models have the same recorded self-hosting status: unsupported. GPT-4o Mini is not marked open weight; GPT-5 is not marked open weight.
Can GPT-4o Mini and GPT-5 understand images?+
GPT-4o Mini is documented with image input; GPT-5 is documented with image input. This reflects supported input modalities, not vision quality.
Which can generate longer answers, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5?+
GPT-5 has the larger sourced maximum output: GPT-4o Mini supports 16,384 and GPT-5 supports 128,000 output tokens.
Do GPT-4o Mini and GPT-5 support reasoning and tool use?+
GPT-4o Mini: tool calling and image input. GPT-5: reasoning, tool calling, and image input. Feature support does not establish relative quality.
Which is available from more inference providers, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5?+
GPT-4o Mini has 2 sourced provider routes; GPT-5 has 2, a tie.
Which offers better value, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5?+
There is no universal value winner. Compare the input and output prices above with the matched benchmark result for your workload: cheaper tokens can be offset by different quality, token usage, latency, or provider availability.