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Model comparison

o1 vs o4-mini (high)

Data verified

Head-to-head evidence from 1 shared benchmark result across 1 category. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.

OpenAI
48.1/100
Margin
1.9pts
winning →
49.98/100
0 category wins1 category wins

Public leaderboard positions: o1 #129 (Estimated); o4-mini (high) #118 (Estimated). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.

Evidence parity. o1 and o4-mini (high) share 1 comparable benchmark result. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 15 results are unique to o1; 1 to o4-mini (high).

Updated July 24, 2026
Shared results
1
o1 only
15
o4-mini (high) only
1
Comparable categories
1 / 8

Pick o4-mini (high) if you want the stronger benchmark profile. o1 only becomes the better choice if its workflow or ecosystem matters more than the raw scoreboard.

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

Why this result

o4-mini (high) has the cleaner BenchAlign overall profile here, landing at 49.98 versus 48.1. It is a real lead, but still close enough that category-level strengths matter more than the headline number.

o4-mini (high)'s sharpest advantage is in mathematics, where it averages 20.2 against 9.3. The single biggest benchmark swing on the page is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), 9.310% to 24.828%.

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 o1 and o4-mini (high)
Categoryo1Δo4-mini (high)
Matho19.3Margin 10.9o4-mini (high)20.2
Knowledgeo175.7MarginNo overlapo4-mini (high)Not measured
Inst. Followingo192.2MarginNo overlapo4-mini (high)Not measured

Decisive benchmark drivers

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

More
A · o1B · o4-mini (high)
  1. FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)

    Math
    Source ↗
    A 9.310%B 24.828%
    Winner: o4-mini (high)Δ 15.5
    FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): o1 scored 9.310%; o4-mini (high) scored 24.828%. o4-mini (high) wins this benchmark.

Operational comparison

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

Metrico1o4-mini (high)Comparison
Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokenso1$15 input / $60 outputo4-mini (high)Not availableA complete price comparison is not available.
Generation speedtokens per secondo198 tok/so4-mini (high)161 tok/so4-mini (high) has the higher measured throughput.
First-answer latencyseconds to first tokeno132.29 so4-mini (high)21.94 so4-mini (high) reaches the first token sooner.
Context windowmaximum listed tokenso1200Ko4-mini (high)200KListed context windows are equal.

Benchmark Deep Dive

Agentic
Benchmarko1o4-mini (high)Result
τ²-bench resultsSource 62.6%Not comparable
Coding
Benchmarko1o4-mini (high)Result
AA Coding IndexSource 39.7%Not comparable
AA-SciCodeSource 35.8%Not comparable
Reasoning
Benchmarko1o4-mini (high)Result
AA-LCRSource 59.3%Not comparable
CritPtSource 0.3%Not comparable
Knowledge
Benchmarko1o4-mini (high)Result
MMLUSource 91.8%Not comparable
GPQASource 75.7%Not comparable
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource 23.4%Not comparable
AA-GPQA DiamondSource 74.7%Not comparable
AA-HLESource 7.7%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience IndexSource -10.5%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience AccuracySource 34.7%Not comparable
AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource 69.3%Not comparable
Matho4-mini (high) wins
Benchmarko1o4-mini (high)Result
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)Source 9.310%24.828%o4-mini (high) leads
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)Source 6.250%Not comparable
Inst. Following
Benchmarko1o4-mini (high)Result
IFEvalSource 92.2%Not comparable
AA-IFBenchSource 70.3%Not comparable
Frequently Asked Questions (2)

Which is better, o1 or o4-mini (high)?

o4-mini (high) is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 49.98 to 48.1. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), where the scores are 9.310% and 24.828%.

Which is better for math, o1 or o4-mini (high)?

o4-mini (high) has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 20.2 versus 9.3. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.

Related Comparisons

Last updated: July 24, 2026

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