reasoning
O4 Mini vs Claude Sonnet 4 6
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | O4 Mini | Claude Sonnet 4 6 |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | openai | anthropic |
| Model ID | o4-mini | claude-sonnet-4-6 |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.10 (63% cheaper) | $3.00 |
| Output / 1M tokens | $4.40 (71% cheaper) | $15.00 |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.28 | $0.30 |
| Context window | 200kk tokens | 1000kk tokens |
| Max output | 100kk tokens | 64kk tokens |
| Vision | ✅ | ✅ |
| Function calling | ✅ | ✅ |
| Prompt caching | ✅ | ✅ |
| Web search | ✅ | ⬜ |
| JSON schema | ✅ | ✅ |
Monthly cost comparison
No cache discount applied — pure token costs at three usage scales.
| Scale | O4 Mini | Claude Sonnet 4 6 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $1.98 | $6.00 | O4 Mini saves 67% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $19.80 | $60.00 | O4 Mini saves 67% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $198 | $600 | O4 Mini saves 67% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
O4 Mini
$1.10/M
· 63% less than the other
Cheapest output
O4 Mini
$4.40/M
· 71% less than the other
Larger context
Claude Sonnet 4 6
1000kk tokens · 400% larger window
More features
O4 Mini
5 / 5 capabilities
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.28/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
O4 Mini
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$4.40/M output — 71% cheaper on output at scale
O4 Mini
Long-document processing & large codebases
1000k context window vs 200k — 400% larger context
Claude Sonnet 4 6
Agentic workflows & tool use
Supports 5 of 5 tracked capabilities (vision, function calling, caching, web search, JSON schema)
O4 Mini
Deep-dive on each model
Pricing data sourced from LiteLLM and refreshed regularly. Always verify with each provider's official pricing page before making business decisions.