Which model is cheaper, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5.5?

GPT-4o Mini costs less at $0.75/1M combined tokens vs $35.00/1M. That difference adds up over thousands of API calls.

Which model is faster, GPT-4o Mini or GPT-5.5?

GPT-4o Mini is faster at 180 tokens/second vs 81 tokens/second. Speed matters most for interactive applications and real-time agent workflows.

Compare/GPT-4o Mini vs GPT-5.5

GPT-4o Mini vs GPT-5.5

Side-by-side comparison for AI agent model selection.

Quick Verdict

GPT-4o Mini is the more affordable option and costs less per token. GPT-5.5 leads in quality benchmarks. For budget-conscious users, go with GPT-4o Mini. For maximum quality, choose GPT-5.5.

Specification Comparison

	GPT-4o Mini	GPT-5.5
Provider	OpenAI	OpenAI
Tier	Budget	Frontier
Quality Score	38	60
Input Price	$0.15/1M	$5.00/1M
Output Price	$0.60/1M	$30.00/1M
Speed	180 tok/s	81 tok/s
Context Window	128K	1.1M
Max Output	16K	128K
Reasoning	No	Yes
Vision	Yes	Yes

Monthly Cost Comparison (100 tasks/month)

Task	GPT-4o Mini	GPT-5.5	Savings
Coding	$1.49	$67.50	GPT-4o Mini saves $66.02
Writing	$0.40	$18.00	GPT-4o Mini saves $17.60
Analysis	$0.82	$37.50	GPT-4o Mini saves $36.67
Research	$0.66	$30.00	GPT-4o Mini saves $29.34
Email	$0.13	$6.00	GPT-4o Mini saves $5.87
Summarization	$0.26	$12.00	GPT-4o Mini saves $11.74

Strengths

GPT-4o Mini

generalemailsummarization

GPT-5.5

codinganalysismathcreativewritingresearch

Frequently Asked Questions

It depends on your priorities. GPT-5.5 has a higher quality score (60 vs 38), while GPT-4o Mini is more affordable. For demanding tasks like coding or analysis, lean toward the higher-scoring model. For high-volume, cost-sensitive workloads, the cheaper option may be the smarter choice.