reasoning
O4 Mini vs Grok 3 Mini
Side-by-side pricing, context window, features, and per-use-case verdict. Data sourced from LiteLLM, updated regularly.
Specifications
| Feature | O4 Mini | Grok 3 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | openai | xai |
| Model ID | o4-mini | xai/grok-3-mini |
| Input / 1M tokens | $1.10 | $0.30 (73% cheaper) |
| Output / 1M tokens | $4.40 | $0.50 (89% cheaper) |
| Cached input / 1M | $0.28 | $0.07 |
| Context window | 200kk tokens | 131kk tokens |
| Max output | 100kk tokens | 131kk 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 | Grok 3 Mini | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small 1M in / 0.2M out | $1.98 | $0.40 | Grok 3 Mini saves 80% |
| Medium 10M in / 2M out | $19.80 | $4.00 | Grok 3 Mini saves 80% |
| Large 100M in / 20M out | $198 | $40.00 | Grok 3 Mini saves 80% |
Category winners
Cheapest input
Grok 3 Mini
$0.30/M
· 73% less than the other
Cheapest output
Grok 3 Mini
$0.50/M
· 89% less than the other
Larger context
O4 Mini
200kk tokens · 53% larger window
More features
O4 Mini
5 / 5 capabilities
Better for…
High-volume RAG & repeated context
$0.07/M cached input — prompt caching makes repeated context retrieval significantly cheaper
Grok 3 Mini
Short interactions & high-throughput APIs
$0.50/M output — 89% cheaper on output at scale
Grok 3 Mini
Long-document processing & large codebases
200k context window vs 131k — 53% larger context
O4 Mini
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.