GPT-4.1 nano vs Amazon Nova Micro
Benchmarks, API Token Pricing, Context Window & Speed Comparison
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GPT-4.1 nano by OpenAI and Amazon Nova Micro by Amazon represent two of the frontier AI models analyzed in our comprehensive 2026 AI benchmark and LLM comparison. In this head-to-head evaluation, we examine API token pricing, context window specifications, inference speed (tokens per second), and empirical reasoning performance. From a pure economic perspective, Amazon Nova Micro holds a notable pricing advantage for token ingestion. On output generation, Amazon Nova Micro is more economical per million generated tokens. In data-heavy architectures requiring extensive repository or document analysis, GPT-4.1 nano provides an expanded memory horizon with 1,048K tokens. In latency-sensitive production environments, GPT-4.1 nano leads in tokens-per-second throughput, making it ideal for real-time conversational agents and high-concurrency workflows. Below is the complete empirical head-to-head breakdown across cost, speed, context, and capability matrices.
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GPT-4.1 nano
Cheapest 4.1The smallest and cheapest GPT-4.1 lane, aimed at classification, tagging and routing.
$0.10 / 1M
$0.40 / 1M
1.05M tokens
24%
Amazon Nova Micro
AWS Micro-Latency TextAmazon's fastest, lowest-cost text model delivering sub-200ms responses for search ranking, classification, and streaming conversational chat.
$0.04 / 1M
$0.14 / 1M
128K tokens
23%
Key Differences at a Glance
- Amazon Nova Micro is 2.9x cheaper for API usage (input + output tokens combined).
- GPT-4.1 nano has a larger context window (1M vs 128K tokens).
- GPT-4.1 nano is faster at 220 tok/s vs 175 tok/s.
- GPT-4.1 nano leads on SWE-bench coding (24.0% vs 23.0%).
| Feature | GPT-4.1 nano | Amazon Nova Micro |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Composite reasoning & knowledge score (0-100) | 26 | 34 |
Provider | OpenAI | Amazon |
Input Price Cost per million input tokens | $0.10 / 1M | $0.04 / 1M |
Output Price Cost per million output tokens | $0.40 / 1M | $0.14 / 1M |
Blended Price Weighted 7:2:1 cache:input:output per 1M | $0.08 / 1M | $0.03 / 1M |
Context Window Maximum input + output tokens | 1.05M tokens~1,571 A4 pages of text | 128K tokens~192 A4 pages of text |
Max Output Tokens Per single request | 33K | 8K |
Throughput Speed Tokens generated per second | 220 tok/s | 175 tok/s |
SWE-bench Verified Real-world software engineering | 24% | 23% |
GPQA Diamond Graduate-level reasoning | 38% | 33.5% |
Cached Input Price Prompt caching discount per 1M tokens | $0.03 / 1M | $0.01 / 1M |
Who Wins Where?
At-a-glance decision frameworkEmpirical Head-to-Head Benchmark Scores
Official evaluation metrics verified by independent third-party research labs.
Industry benchmark evaluating real-world GitHub issue resolution and multi-file debugging.
Challenging questions created by domain experts to test complex PhD-level reasoning.
Hardened reasoning and academic knowledge benchmark with reduced lucky-guess probability.
Crowdsourced human preference evaluation based on blind, head-to-head model battles.
Extremely difficult, closed-ended questions spanning the frontier of human expert knowledge.
Autonomous multi-step tasks executed inside a real command-line terminal environment.
Research-grade coding problems drawn from real scientific and numerical workloads.
Contamination-free competitive programming problems collected continuously over time.
American Invitational Mathematics Examination — multi-step Olympiad-level reasoning.
Accuracy when reasoning over very large inputs that fill the model context window.
Tokens emitted per second during active generation streaming.
Latency & Response Time
Time to first token (TTFT) and estimated end-to-end response time for a typical 500-token response.
Real-Time Interactive Token Cost Simulator
Adjust sliders to calculate projected monthly cloud API spending with prompt caching discounts.
GPT-4.1 nano · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Extremely cheap at $0.10 / $0.40 per 1M tokens
- Very fast, ideal for latency-sensitive routing
- Still carries the 1M-token context window
- Good enough for guardrails and safety pre-filtering
Considerations & Trade-offs
- The weakest GPT-4.1 variant by a wide margin
- Not suitable for open-ended reasoning or long-form writing
Amazon Nova Micro · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Sub-200ms time-to-first-token, ideal for streaming autocomplete and search routing
- Extreme cost efficiency ($0.035/1M input tokens)
- 128K context window for fast document scanning
- Native Bedrock Guardrails and security compliance
Considerations & Trade-offs
- Text-only (no vision support)
- Limited deep algorithmic reasoning capacity
Token Use & Task Economics
Estimated cost and token consumption to complete one representative agentic task.
| Metric | GPT-4.1 nano | Amazon Nova Micro |
|---|---|---|
Cost per Task Estimated USD to finish one task | $0.04 | $0.03 |
Output Tokens / Task Tokens generated per task | 42K | 15K |
Reasoning Tokens / Task Thinking tokens burned per task | 0K | 0K |
Technical Specifications
Architecture, release timeline, capabilities, and modalities.
| Feature | GPT-4.1 nano | Amazon Nova Micro |
|---|---|---|
| Official API Model ID (SDK) | gpt-4-1-nano | nova-micro |
| API Protocol | OpenAI Responses API & Chat Completions v1 | Amazon REST API (OpenAI-Compatible) |
| Release Date | 2025-04 | 2024-12 |
| Knowledge Cutoff | June 2024 | October 2024 |
| Architecture | Dense multimodal transformer (nano) | Ultra-Fast Text-Only Dense Transformer |
| Parameters | Confidential | Confidential |
| Enterprise Rate Limits (RPM / TPM) | 10,000 – 30,000 RPM (Tier 5 Enterprise) · 4,000,000 – 10,000,000 TPM | 5,000 – 15,000 RPM (Production Tier) · 800,000 – 2,000,000 TPM |
| Long-Context Tier (>128K/200K) | Flat rate ($0.1/1M in) across full 1048K window | Flat rate ($0.035/1M in) across full 128K window |
| Prompt Cache Policy & TTL | Automatic prefix caching at $0.025/1M (no extra cache-write fee) | Cached input at $0.009/1M tokens |
| Computer Use / GUI Agent | Supported (Screen coordinate grounding, browser & desktop GUI action loops) | API / CLI Tool-Use & DOM Agent ready (no raw pixel desktop click loop) |
| MCP & Parallel Tool Calling | Native MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema | Native MCP Client/Server ready · Parallel function calling · 100% Strict JSON Schema |
| Web Search Grounding & Sandbox | Native Web Search tool + Hosted Code Interpreter & File Search RAG | Supported via external Tavily/Exa Search & E2B/Docker Sandbox tools |
| Official Fine-Tuning Support | Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), Direct Preference (DPO) & Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (RFT) | API Prompt Engineering & RAG Distillation |
| Multimodal Token Billing | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) · Vision (~258–765 tokens per image tile) | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) |
| Quantization & Min GPU VRAM | Cloud-Hosted Proprietary (FP8 / BF16 Tensor Core Cluster) · Zero Local VRAM Required (100% Serverless Cloud API) | Cloud-Hosted Proprietary (FP8 / BF16 Tensor Core Cluster) · Zero Local VRAM Required (100% Serverless Cloud API) |
| Safety & Frontier Classification | OpenAI Preparedness Framework Audited & System Card Published | Amazon Production Safety & Alignment Verified |
| Enterprise Compliance (ZDR/HIPAA/SOC2) | SOC2 Type II · GDPR · Zero Data Retention (ZDR) & HIPAA BAA Available on Enterprise Tier | SOC2 Type II · GDPR · Zero Data Retention (ZDR) & HIPAA BAA Available on Enterprise Tier |
| Input Modalities | text, vision | text |
| Output Modalities | text | text |
GPT-4.1 nano vs Amazon Nova Micro: Quick Answers
Which is more intelligent, GPT-4.1 nano or Amazon Nova Micro?
Amazon Nova Micro is more intelligent. It scores 34 compared with 26 on the composite Intelligence Index.
Which model is faster?
GPT-4.1 nano is faster, generating 220 tokens per second compared with 175 tokens per second.
Which model is cheaper to run?
Amazon Nova Micro is cheaper at $0.03 per 1M tokens blended, compared with $0.08 (7:2:1 cache:input:output ratio).
Which model has lower latency?
Amazon Nova Micro has lower latency, with a time to first token of 0.18s compared with 0.22s.
Which model has a larger context window?
GPT-4.1 nano has a larger context window, supporting 1.05M tokens compared with 128K tokens.
Verdict
Verdict & Model Selection Recommendation: Choose GPT-4.1 nano if your priority is Bulk classification, tagging, guardrails and cheap agent routing. Its performance in demanding tasks justifies its operational token cost. Choose Amazon Nova Micro if your workflow prioritizes Real-time search reranking, intent classification, and high-volume data pipeline filtering. For large-scale batch processing or customer-facing conversational interfaces, its balance of speed and economics delivers superior ROI.
Frequently asked questions
How does GPT-4.1 nano compare to Amazon Nova Micro in API token pricing and cost per token?+
GPT-4.1 nano costs $0.10 per 1M input tokens and $0.40 per 1M output tokens, whereas Amazon Nova Micro costs $0.04 input and $0.14 output. Overall, Amazon Nova Micro is the more cost-effective model for high-volume API pipelines. Both models support prompt caching discounts of up to 90% for repeated prompt prefixes.
Which model has a larger context window: GPT-4.1 nano or Amazon Nova Micro?+
GPT-4.1 nano supports a context window of 1,048K tokens (~786k words), while Amazon Nova Micro supports 128K tokens (~96k words). Therefore, GPT-4.1 nano can process more textual data and document context in a single prompt.
Which AI model is better for software engineering and coding: GPT-4.1 nano or Amazon Nova Micro?+
GPT-4.1 nano scores 24% on SWE-bench Verified while Amazon Nova Micro scores 23%. For autonomous software engineering and multi-file debugging, GPT-4.1 nano holds the verified benchmark lead.
What is the difference in reasoning capability and extended thinking between GPT-4.1 nano and Amazon Nova Micro?+
GPT-4.1 nano is optimized for low-latency direct generation. In contrast, Amazon Nova Micro focuses on standard fast inference.
How does inference speed (tokens per second) compare between GPT-4.1 nano and Amazon Nova Micro?+
GPT-4.1 nano generates approximately 220 tokens per second, while Amazon Nova Micro delivers 175 tokens per second. In latency-sensitive production environments, GPT-4.1 nano provides faster time-to-first-token (TTFT) and higher streaming response velocity.
Can you implement a tiered LLM routing setup combining GPT-4.1 nano and Amazon Nova Micro to optimize costs?+
Yes! High-efficiency architectures route high-frequency routine classification and conversational tasks to Amazon Nova Micro to save operational costs, and dynamically escalate complex architectural queries or reasoning tasks to GPT-4.1 nano. This tiered routing pattern cuts overall API bills by up to 70%.
Understand key metrics like context window, token pricing, reasoning mode, and SWE-bench scores in our comprehensive AI glossary.
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Benchmark scores, token prices, and rate limits evolve rapidly as AI labs release model updates. Always verify current specifications and pricing on the official provider documentation.
Sources: GetInfoUs Independent AI Benchmarks & Official API Specs