o1 vs o3-mini
o1 and o3-mini are closely matched at 20.9 and 21.4 on the LLM Stats Score. o3-mini is 13.6x cheaper per token.
OpenAI · OpenAI · Updated for 2026
Which is better?
o1 and o3-mini are closely matched on the overall LLM Stats Score at 20.9 and 21.4.
In the 11 individual benchmarks reported for both models, o3-mini wins 6; this is a narrower head-to-head signal than the composite indexes.
On price, o3-mini is roughly 13.6x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Based on current LLM Stats indexes, shared benchmarks, pricing, and model metadata for 2026.
Choose o1
- you want predictable pricing at $15.00/M input and $60.00/M output
Choose o3-mini
- you value its reported benchmark strengths — it wins 6 of 11 exact shared results
- cost matters — it's about 13.6x cheaper per token
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Jan 2025
At a glance
The differences that matter most.
Capability indexes
Additional strengths measured across groups of related public benchmarks
Individual benchmarks
19 reported for o1 · 25 for o3-mini
o1 outperforms in 5 benchmarks (GPQA, MMLU, SimpleQA, TAU-bench Airline, TAU-bench Retail), while o3-mini is better at 6 benchmarks (AIME 2024, FrontierMath, LiveBench, MATH, MGSM, SWE-Bench Verified).
o3-mini has a slight edge in benchmark performance.
Human preference
Blind head-to-head votes and playground preference scores
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, o1 ($15.00/1M tokens) is 13.6x more expensive than o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens).
For output processing, o1 ($60.00/1M tokens) is 13.6x more expensive than o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o1 is more expensive than o3-mini.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Both models have the same input context window of 200,000 tokens. Both models can generate responses up to 100,000 tokens.
License
Usage and distribution terms
Both models are licensed under proprietary licenses.
Both models have usage restrictions defined by their respective organizations.
Proprietary
Closed source
Proprietary
Closed source
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
o1 was released on 2024-12-17, while o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30.
o3-mini is 1 month newer than o1.
Dec 17, 2024
1.8 years ago
Jan 30, 2025
1.7 years ago
1mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while o1's cutoff date is not specified.
We can confirm o3-mini's training data extends to 2023-09-30, but cannot make a direct comparison without o1's cutoff date.
—
Sep 2023
Provider Availability
o1 is available from Azure, OpenAI. o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI.
o1
o3-mini
Outputs Comparison
Judge for yourself.
Run your own prompts against o1 and o3-mini side-by-side, then vote on the output you prefer.
FAQ
Common questions about o1 vs o3-mini.