Claude 3 Opus vs o4-mini
Compare Anthropic and OpenAI AI models
Cost Comparison (1000 input + 500 output tokens, 100 requests/day)
Claude 3 Opus
o4-mini
Cost Differences
o4-mini costs less than Claude 3 Opus
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Claude 3 Opus | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic | OpenAI |
| Input Price | $15.00/1M tokens | $1.10/1M tokens |
| Output Price | $75.00/1M tokens | $4.40/1M tokens |
| Context Window | 200,000 tokens | 2,000,000 tokens |
| Max Output | 4,096 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Category | flagship | reasoning |
| Capabilities | textvisionreasoning | textreasoningcode |
| Release Date | 3/4/2024 | 4/16/2025 |
Claude 3 Opus vs o4-mini: Which Should You Choose?
Choosing between Claude 3 Opus and o4-mini depends on your priorities: cost efficiency, context length, or raw capability. o4-mini is the more affordable option at $1.10/1M input tokens — 93% cheaper than Claude 3 Opus. Meanwhile, o4-mini offers a significantly larger context window at 2,000,000 tokens vs 200,000 for Claude 3 Opus.
These models come from different providers — Anthropic and OpenAI — which means different API ecosystems, SDKs, rate limits, and terms of service. If you're already integrated with Anthropic, switching to OpenAIinvolves migration effort beyond just pricing. Factor in your existing infrastructure when deciding.
These models target different tiers: Claude 3 Opus is a flagship model while o4-mini is reasoning. This means they're optimized for different workloads. Claude 3 Opus is built for complex tasks that require deeper reasoning, while o4-mini offers better value for routine operations.
Output costs matter too. Claude 3 Opus charges $75.00/1M output tokens vs $4.40 for o4-mini. For generation-heavy workloads (content creation, code generation, summarization), output pricing often dominates your bill. o4-mini has the edge here at $4.40/1M output tokens.
Multimodal capabilities: Claude 3 Opus supports vision (image inputs) while o4-mini is text-only. If your application needs image understanding, this narrows your choice.
Best Use Cases
Choose Claude 3 Opus when:
- • You're already using Anthropic's API ecosystem
Choose o4-mini when:
- • Budget is a primary concern
- • You need a larger context window (2,000,000 tokens)
- • You need longer outputs (up to 131,072 tokens)
- • You're already using OpenAI's API ecosystem
Try Different Scenarios
Use the calculator below to see how costs change with different usage patterns
Claude 3 Opus (Anthropic)
o4-mini (OpenAI)
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