o4-mini-deep-research vs o3-deep-research
Benchmarks, API Token Pricing, Context Window & Speed Comparison
Related topics (12)
o4-mini-deep-research by OpenAI and o3-deep-research by OpenAI 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, o4-mini-deep-research holds a notable pricing advantage for token ingestion. On output generation, o4-mini-deep-research is more economical per million generated tokens. In data-heavy architectures requiring extensive repository or document analysis, both models provide an identical memory horizon with 200K tokens. In latency-sensitive production environments, o4-mini-deep-research 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.
Changez et Comparez les Modèles
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o4-mini-deep-research
Chercheur économiqueun cheaper profond-recherche modèle conçu sur o4-mini pour long searches et report drafting.
$2.00 / 1M
$8.00 / 1M
200K tokens
48.5%
o3-deep-research
Chercheur agentiqueun agentic modèle pour long-running recherche, synthèse et cited report génération.
$10.00 / 1M
$40.00 / 1M
200K tokens
55%
Différences Clés en un Coup d’Œil
- o4-mini-deep-research is 5.0x cheaper for API usage (input + output tokens combined).
- o4-mini-deep-research is faster at 70 tok/s vs 45 tok/s.
- o3-deep-research leads on SWE-bench coding (55.0% vs 48.5%).
| Caractéristique | o4-mini-deep-research | o3-deep-research |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Composite reasoning & knowledge score (0-100) | 48 | 55 |
Provider | OpenAI | OpenAI |
Input Price Cost per million input tokens | $2.00 / 1M | $10.00 / 1M |
Output Price Cost per million output tokens | $8.00 / 1M | $40.00 / 1M |
Blended Price Weighted 7:2:1 cache:input:output per 1M | $1.55 / 1M | $7.75 / 1M |
Context Window Maximum input + output tokens | 200K tokens~300 A4 pages of text | 200K tokens~300 A4 pages of text |
Max Output Tokens Per single request | 100K | 100K |
Throughput Speed Tokens generated per second | 70 tok/s | 45 tok/s |
SWE-bench Verified Real-world software engineering | 48.5% | 55% |
GPQA Diamond Graduate-level reasoning | 68% | 74.5% |
Cached Input Price Prompt caching discount per 1M tokens | $0.50 / 1M | $2.50 / 1M |
Qui gagne où ?
At-a-glance decision frameworkScores de Benchmarks Vérifiés
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.
Latence et Temps de Réponse
Time to first token (TTFT) and estimated end-to-end response time for a typical 500-token response.
Simulateur Interactif de Coût de Tokens
Adjust sliders to calculate projected monthly cloud API spending with prompt caching discounts.
o4-mini-deep-research · Strengths & Key Advantages
- Roughly five times cheaper que o3-profond-recherche
- Handles long multi-source recherche fonctionne end à end
- bon enough pour routine monitoring et briefs
- bon citations discipline pour le prix point
Considerations & Trade-offs
- moins profondeur et nuance dans synthèse que o3-profond-recherche
- plus prone à missing subtle contradictions à travers sources
o3-deep-research · Strengths & Key Advantages
- fonctionne autonome multi-étapes recherche avec citations
- Synthesises grand evidence sets dans structuré reports
- profond intégration avec web recherche et file récupération
- Produit des rapports de recherche bien structurés et entièrement cités
Considerations & Trade-offs
- Slow et expensive par run
- Overkill pour anything qui est pas un genuine recherche tâche
Token Use & Task Economics
Estimated cost and token consumption to complete one representative agentic task.
| Metric | o4-mini-deep-research | o3-deep-research |
|---|---|---|
Cost per Task Estimated USD to finish one task | $1.10 | $7.28 |
Output Tokens / Task Tokens generated per task | 75K | 90K |
Reasoning Tokens / Task Thinking tokens burned per task | 30K | 42K |
Spécifications Techniques
Architecture, release timeline, capabilities, and modalities.
| Caractéristique | o4-mini-deep-research | o3-deep-research |
|---|---|---|
| Official API Model ID (SDK) | o4-mini-deep-research | o3-deep-research |
| API Protocol | OpenAI Responses API & Chat Completions v1 | OpenAI Responses API & Chat Completions v1 |
| Release Date | 2025-06 | 2025-06 |
| Knowledge Cutoff | June 2024 | June 2024 |
| Architecture | Compact agentic reasoning transformer | Agentic reasoning transformer with web and file tools |
| Parameters | Confidential | Confidential |
| Enterprise Rate Limits (RPM / TPM) | 10,000 – 30,000 RPM (Tier 5 Enterprise) · 800,000 – 2,000,000 TPM | 10,000 – 30,000 RPM (Tier 5 Enterprise) · 800,000 – 2,000,000 TPM |
| Long-Context Tier (>128K/200K) | Flat rate ($2/1M in) across full 200K window | Flat rate ($10/1M in) across full 200K window |
| Prompt Cache Policy & TTL | Automatic prefix caching at $0.5/1M (no extra cache-write fee) | Automatic prefix caching at $2.5/1M (no extra cache-write fee) |
| Computer Use / GUI Agent | Supported (Screen coordinate grounding, browser & desktop GUI action loops) | Supported (Screen coordinate grounding, browser & desktop GUI action loops) |
| 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 | Native Web Search tool + Hosted Code Interpreter & File Search RAG |
| Official Fine-Tuning Support | Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), Direct Preference (DPO) & Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (RFT) | Supervised Fine-Tuning (SFT), Direct Preference (DPO) & Reinforcement Fine-Tuning (RFT) |
| Multimodal Token Billing | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) · Vision (~258–765 tokens per image tile) | Text BPE (~4 chars/token) · Vision (~258–765 tokens per image tile) |
| 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 | OpenAI Preparedness Framework Audited & System Card Published |
| 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, vision |
| Output Modalities | text | text |
o4-mini-deep-research vs o3-deep-research: Réponses Rapides (FAQ)
Which is more intelligent, o4-mini-deep-research or o3-deep-research?
o3-deep-research is more intelligent. It scores 55 compared with 48 on the composite Intelligence Index.
Which model is faster?
o4-mini-deep-research is faster, generating 70 tokens per second compared with 45 tokens per second.
Which model is cheaper to run?
o4-mini-deep-research is cheaper at $1.55 per 1M tokens blended, compared with $7.75 (7:2:1 cache:input:output ratio).
Which model has lower latency?
o4-mini-deep-research has lower latency, with a time to first token of 2.40s compared with 3.40s.
Verdict
Verdict & Model Selection Recommendation: Choose o4-mini-deep-research if your priority is High-volume research briefs where cost per run dominates. Its performance in demanding tasks justifies its operational token cost. Choose o3-deep-research if your workflow prioritizes Automated literature review, market research and cited report drafting. For large-scale batch processing or customer-facing conversational interfaces, its balance of speed and economics delivers superior ROI.
Questions fréquentes
How does o4-mini-deep-research compare to o3-deep-research in API token pricing and cost per token?+
o4-mini-deep-research costs $2.00 per 1M input tokens and $8.00 per 1M output tokens, whereas o3-deep-research costs $10.00 input and $40.00 output. Overall, o4-mini-deep-research 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: o4-mini-deep-research or o3-deep-research?+
Both o4-mini-deep-research and o3-deep-research offer an identical context window of 200K tokens (~150k words). Both architectures provide equal capacity for large document ingestion, multi-file codebases, and extended multi-turn conversation histories.
Which AI model is better for software engineering and coding: o4-mini-deep-research or o3-deep-research?+
o4-mini-deep-research scores 48.5% on SWE-bench Verified while o3-deep-research scores 55%. For autonomous software engineering and multi-file debugging, o3-deep-research holds the verified benchmark lead.
What is the difference in reasoning capability and extended thinking between o4-mini-deep-research and o3-deep-research?+
o4-mini-deep-research features native chain-of-thought extended thinking mode with configurable reasoning effort. In contrast, o3-deep-research provides chain-of-thought reasoning depth for complex math and science.
How does inference speed (tokens per second) compare between o4-mini-deep-research and o3-deep-research?+
o4-mini-deep-research generates approximately 70 tokens per second, while o3-deep-research delivers 45 tokens per second. In latency-sensitive production environments, o4-mini-deep-research provides faster time-to-first-token (TTFT) and higher streaming response velocity.
Can you implement a tiered LLM routing setup combining o4-mini-deep-research and o3-deep-research to optimize costs?+
Yes! High-efficiency architectures route high-frequency routine classification and conversational tasks to o4-mini-deep-research to save operational costs, and dynamically escalate complex architectural queries or reasoning tasks to o3-deep-research. 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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Les scores de benchmarks, tarifs par token et limites évoluent rapidement. Vérifiez toujours les spécifications actuelles sur la documentation officielle du fournisseur.
Sources: GetInfoUs Independent AI Benchmarks & Official API Specs