Model Comparison
o3-mini vs Llama 4 MaverickWhich is better in 2026?
o3-mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks. Llama 4 Maverick is 6.9x cheaper per token.
Verdict: o3-mini vs Llama 4 Maverick — which is better?
o3-mini (by OpenAI) and Llama 4 Maverick (by Meta) are two of the AI models people compare most. Here is how they stack up on benchmarks, price and capabilities, and which one to pick in 2026.
o3-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU), while Llama 4 Maverick is better at 1 benchmark (MGSM). o3-mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
On price, Llama 4 Maverick is roughly 6.9x cheaper per token on a blended 3:1 input/output basis, which adds up quickly at production volume.
Llama 4 Maverick also accepts a larger context window (1,000,000 input tokens), making it the stronger choice for long documents and large codebases.
Choose o3-mini if…
- you want the strongest raw capability — it leads on 3 of 4 shared benchmarks
Choose Llama 4 Maverick if…
- cost matters — it's about 6.9x cheaper per token
- you process long inputs — it offers a 1,000,000 token context window
- you want the most recent training data — it shipped Apr 2025
- you need open weights you can self-host or fine-tune
Performance Benchmarks
Comparative analysis across standard metrics
o3-mini outperforms in 3 benchmarks (GPQA, MATH, MMLU), while Llama 4 Maverick is better at 1 benchmark (MGSM).
o3-mini shows notably better performance in the majority of benchmarks.
Arena Performance
Human preference votes
Pricing Analysis
Price comparison per million tokens
For input processing, o3-mini ($1.10/1M tokens) is 6.5x more expensive than Llama 4 Maverick ($0.17/1M tokens).
For output processing, o3-mini ($4.40/1M tokens) is 7.3x more expensive than Llama 4 Maverick ($0.60/1M tokens).
In conclusion, o3-mini is more expensive than Llama 4 Maverick.*
* Using a 3:1 ratio of input to output tokens
Context Window
Maximum input and output token capacity
Llama 4 Maverick accepts 1,000,000 input tokens compared to o3-mini's 200,000 tokens. Llama 4 Maverick can generate longer responses up to 1,000,000 tokens, while o3-mini is limited to 100,000 tokens.
Input Capabilities
Supported data types and modalities
Llama 4 Maverick supports multimodal inputs, whereas o3-mini does not.
Llama 4 Maverick can handle both text and other forms of data like images, making it suitable for multimodal applications.
o3-mini
Llama 4 Maverick
License
Usage and distribution terms
o3-mini is licensed under a proprietary license, while Llama 4 Maverick uses Llama 4 Community License Agreement.
License differences may affect how you can use these models in commercial or open-source projects.
Proprietary
Closed source
Llama 4 Community License Agreement
Open weights
Release Timeline
When each model was launched
o3-mini was released on 2025-01-30, while Llama 4 Maverick was released on 2025-04-05.
Llama 4 Maverick is 2 months newer than o3-mini.
Jan 30, 2025
1.4 years ago
Apr 5, 2025
1.2 years ago
2mo newerKnowledge Cutoff
When training data ends
o3-mini has a documented knowledge cutoff of 2023-09-30, while Llama 4 Maverick'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 Llama 4 Maverick's cutoff date.
Sep 2023
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Provider Availability
o3-mini is available from Azure, OpenAI. Llama 4 Maverick is available from DeepInfra, Novita, Lambda, Groq, Fireworks, Together, Sambanova.
o3-mini
Llama 4 Maverick
Outputs Comparison
Key Takeaways
o3-mini
View detailsOpenAI
Detailed Comparison
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FAQ
Common questions about o3-mini vs Llama 4 Maverick.