Model comparison

GPT-4o vs o3

Data verified July 20, 2026

Head-to-head evidence from 13 shared benchmark results across 7 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

GPT-4o

OpenAI

41.49/100

Margin

6.4pts

winning →

OpenAI

47.89/100

0 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: GPT-4o #165 (Supported); o3 #131 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. GPT-4o and o3 share 13 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 0 results are unique to GPT-4o; 3 to o3.

Updated July 20, 2026

Shared results: 13
GPT-4o only: 0
o3 only: 3
Comparable categories: 1 / 8

Pick o3 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. GPT-4o only becomes the better choice if you would rather avoid the extra latency and token burn of a reasoning model.

Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 13 shared benchmark results across 7 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.

Why this result

o3 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 47.89 to 41.49. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.

o3's sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 14.5 against 0.3. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), 0.345% to 18.685%.

GPT-4o is also the more expensive model on tokens at $2.50 input / $10.00 output per 1M tokens, versus $2.00 input / $8.00 output per 1M tokens for o3. o3 is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4o is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. o3 gives you the larger context window at 200K, compared with 128K for GPT-4o.

Category breakdown

Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.

Category scores and score margins for GPT-4o and o3
Category	GPT-4o	Δ	o3
Math	GPT-4o0.3	Margin→ 14.2	o314.5

Decisive benchmark drivers

The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.

A · GPT-4oB · o3

FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)
Math
Source ↗
A 0.345%B 18.685%
Winner: o3Δ 18.3
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): GPT-4o scored 0.345%; o3 scored 18.685%. o3 wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.

Metric	GPT-4o	o3	Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens	GPT-4o$2.5 input / $10 output	o3$2 input / $8 output	o3 has the lower combined listed price.
Generation speedtokens per second	GPT-4o131 tok/s	o3118 tok/s	GPT-4o has the higher measured throughput.
First-answer latencyseconds to first token	GPT-4o0.81 s	o35.38 s	GPT-4o reaches the first token sooner.
Context windowmaximum listed tokens	GPT-4o128K	o3200K	o3 lists the larger context window.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic

1 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
τ²-bench resultsSource	25.1%	80.7%	o3 leads

Coding

1 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
AA-SciCodeSource	33.3%	41.0%	o3 leads

Reasoning

2 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
AA-LCRSource	0.0%	69.3%	o3 leads
CritPtSource	0.0%	1.1%	o3 leads

Knowledge

6 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource	11.2%	30.4%	o3 leads
AA-GPQA DiamondSource	54.3%	82.7%	o3 leads
AA-HLESource	3.3%	20.0%	o3 leads
AA-Omniscience IndexSource	-10.7%	-15.3%	GPT-4o leads
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource	19.7%	38.4%	o3 leads
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource	37.9%	87.1%	GPT-4o leads

Matho3 wins

3 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source	0.345%	18.685%	o3 leads
AA MATH-500Source	—	99.2%	Not comparable
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source	—	2.083%	Not comparable

Multimodal

2 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
Design Arena WebsiteSource	864	1069	o3 leads
AA-MMMU-ProSource	—	70.1%	Not comparable

Inst. Following

1 benchmarks

Benchmark	GPT-4o	o3	Result
AA-IFBenchSource	34.3%	71.4%	o3 leads

Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, GPT-4o or o3?

o3 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 47.89 to 41.49. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), where the scores are 0.345% and 18.685%.

Which is better for math, GPT-4o or o3?

o3 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 14.5 versus 0.3. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

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