GPT-4.1-mini
A smaller, cheaper GPT-4.1 variant that keeps the large context window while cutting cost and latency. A solid mid-budget option for high-volume work that still needs long inputs.
At a glance
Released
Apr 14, 2025
Provider
OpenAI
Context window
1,000,000 tokens
Max output
32,000 tokens
Modalities
Text + image → text
Knowledge cutoff
June 2024
API model ID
gpt-4.1-miniLicense
Proprietary (API only)
Pricing
Standard
Input$0.40 / 1M
Output$1.60 / 1M
Batch (50% off)
Input$0.20 / 1M
Output$0.80 / 1M
A typical 1,500-token prompt with a 650-token answer costs ≈ $0.002 on the standard tier. Run your own prompt through the calculator →
What's new vs the previous model
Compared withGPT-4o-mini (July 2024)
- Far larger context than GPT-4o-mini
- Improved reasoning and coding for its size
- Better instruction following
- Less capable than full GPT-4.1
Best use cases
High-volume processing
Handles large batches of long documents cheaply.
Scalable assistants
Serves cost-sensitive chat with long context.
Extraction
Parses structured data from big inputs.
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Large context at low cost
- Fast
- Good value
- Multimodal input
Limitations
- Less depth than GPT-4.1
- Older cutoff
How to test it
- No-code: open chatgpt.com and pick GPT-4.1-mini from the model switcher — no API key needed.
- Playground: sign in to the OpenAI Platform and run prompts in the workbench, then copy the generated code.
- API: create a key in the OpenAI Platform and call the API (example below).
curl https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"model": "gpt-4.1-mini",
"messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Explain tokenization in one paragraph."}]
}'