Model Comparison
OpenAI's GPT-4.1 mini beats Anthropic's Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) on both price and benchmarks — here's the full breakdown.
Data last updated March 4, 2026
GPT-4.1 mini is the clear winner — cheaper and higher-scoring than Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning). Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) costs $0.15 per request vs $0.0036 for GPT-4.1 mini (at 5K input / 1K output tokens). There's little reason to choose Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) unless you need its specific API features or ecosystem.
| Metric | Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) | GPT-4.1 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Intelligence IndexComposite score from MMLU-Pro, GPQA, and AIME. Higher is better. | 22.2 | 22.9 |
| MMLU-ProGeneral knowledge and reasoning. Higher is better. | 0.9 | 0.8 |
| GPQAGraduate-level science questions. Higher is better. | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| AIMEMathematical problem solving. Higher is better. | 0.6 | 0.4 |
| Output tokens/secTokens generated per second. Higher means faster responses. | 36.2 | 70.6 |
| Time to first tokenSeconds until first token. Lower is better. | 1.34s | 0.48s |
| Context windowMax tokens per request. Larger handles more text. | 1,000,000 | 1,047,576 |
List prices as published by the provider. Not adjusted for token efficiency.
| Metric | Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) | GPT-4.1 mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M tokens | $15.00 | $0.40 |
| Output price / 1M tokens | $75.00 | $1.60 |
| Cache hit price / 1M tokens | $1.50 | $0.10 |
Cost per IQ point based on a typical request of 5,000 input and 1,000 output tokens.
Cheaper (list price)
GPT-4.1 mini
Higher Benchmarks
GPT-4.1 mini
Better Value ($/IQ point)
GPT-4.1 mini
Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning)
$0.0068 / IQ point
GPT-4.1 mini
$0.0002 / IQ point
GPT-4.1 mini is dramatically cheaper — 42x less per request than Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning). GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper on both input ($0.4/M vs $15.0/M) and output ($1.6/M vs $75.0/M). At a fraction of the cost, GPT-4.1 mini saves significantly in production workloads. This comparison assumes a typical request of 5,000 input and 1,000 output tokens (5:1 ratio). Actual ratios vary by workload — chat and completion tasks typically run 2:1, code review around 3:1, document analysis and summarization 10:1 to 50:1, and embedding workloads are pure input with no output tokens.
Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) and GPT-4.1 mini score nearly the same overall (22.2 vs 22.9). Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) leads on MMLU-Pro (0.86 vs 0.78), GPQA (0.7 vs 0.66), AIME (0.56 vs 0.43). If mathematical reasoning matters, Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning)'s AIME score of 0.56 gives it an edge.
GPT-4.1 mini is 95% faster at 70.6 tokens per second compared to Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) at 36.2 tokens per second. GPT-4.1 mini also starts generating sooner at 0.48s vs 1.34s time to first token. The speed difference matters for chatbots but is less relevant in batch processing.
GPT-4.1 mini has a 5% larger context window at 1,047,576 tokens vs Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) at 1,000,000 tokens. That's roughly 1,396 vs 1,333 pages of text. The extra context capacity in GPT-4.1 mini matters for document analysis and long conversations.
GPT-4.1 mini offers dramatically better value — $0.0002 per intelligence point vs Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) at $0.0068. GPT-4.1 mini is both cheaper and higher-scoring, making it the clear value pick. You don't sacrifice quality to save money with GPT-4.1 mini.
With prompt caching, GPT-4.1 mini is dramatically cheaper — 39x less per request than Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning). Caching saves 45% on Claude 4 Opus (Non-reasoning) and 42% on GPT-4.1 mini compared to standard input prices. Both models benefit from caching at similar rates, so the uncached price comparison holds.
Pricing verified against official vendor documentation. Updated daily. See our methodology.
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