GPT-4o mini vs GPT-4.1 nano

Side-by-side benchmark comparison across knowledge, coding, math, and reasoning.

GPT-4o mini is clearly ahead on the aggregate, 43 to 23. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

GPT-4o mini's sharpest advantage is in knowledge, where it averages 82 against 65.2. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is MMLU, 82 to 80.1.

GPT-4o mini is also the more expensive model on tokens at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per 1M tokens, versus $0.10 input / $0.40 output per 1M tokens for GPT-4.1 nano. GPT-4.1 nano gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 128K for GPT-4o mini.

Quick Verdict

Pick GPT-4o mini if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4.1 nano only becomes the better choice if you want the cheaper token bill or you need the larger 1M context window.

Knowledge

GPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini

82

GPT-4.1 nano

65.2

82
MMLU
80.1
-
GPQA
50.3

Coding

GPT-4o mini
87.2
HumanEval
-

Mathematics

GPT-4.1 nano
-
AIME 2024
9.8

Reasoning

Tie

Instruction Following

GPT-4.1 nano
-
IFEval
83.2

Multilingual

GPT-4o mini
87
MGSM
-

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, GPT-4o mini or GPT-4.1 nano?

GPT-4o mini is ahead overall, 43 to 23. The biggest single separator in this matchup is MMLU, where the scores are 82 and 80.1.

Which is better for knowledge tasks, GPT-4o mini or GPT-4.1 nano?

GPT-4o mini has the edge for knowledge tasks in this comparison, averaging 82 versus 65.2. Inside this category, MMLU is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Last updated: March 9, 2026

Weekly LLM Benchmark Digest

Get notified when new models drop, benchmark scores change, or the leaderboard shifts. One email per week.

Free. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. We only store derived location metadata for consent routing.