GPT-4.1 Max vs o3: which model should you choose?
We compared GPT-4.1 Max and o3 on price, context window and 12 benchmarks. GPT-4.1 Max has the stronger average benchmark score; GPT-4.1 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis.
GPT-4.1 Max
GPT-4.1 Max is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $17.34 per million input tokens and $66.38 per million output tokens, and averages 84.7 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $17.34 / 1M
- Output
- $66.38 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 84.7
- Open weights
- No
o3
o3 is a frontier model from OpenAI. It offers a 400,000-token context window, costs $16.80 per million input tokens and $81.80 per million output tokens, and averages 84.5 across the index's benchmark suite.
- Input
- $16.80 / 1M
- Output
- $81.80 / 1M
- Context
- 400,000
- Avg score
- 84.5
- Open weights
- No
Specification comparison
| Spec | GPT-4.1 Max | o3 | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input price / 1M | $17.34 | $16.80 | B |
| Output price / 1M | $66.38 | $81.80 | A |
| Context window | 400,000 | 400,000 | Tie |
| Max output | 8,192 | 4,096 | A |
| Average score | 84.7 | 84.5 | A |
| Arena Elo | 1467.6 | 1449.0 | A |
| Open weights | No | No | Tie |
Benchmark comparison
GPT-4.1 Max wins 7, o3 wins 5, and 0 benchmarks are tied. The table shows the modelled score for each model and the gap.
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 Max | o3 | Gap | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MMLU-Pro | 87.4 | 86.9 | 0.5 | GPT-4.1 Max |
| GPQA Diamond | 81.2 | 78.3 | 2.9 | GPT-4.1 Max |
| SWE-bench Verified | 74.8 | 72.9 | 1.9 | GPT-4.1 Max |
| HumanEval | 88.8 | 89.8 | 1.0 | o3 |
| MATH-500 | 87.3 | 87.9 | 0.6 | o3 |
| AIME 2025 | 84.9 | 84.4 | 0.5 | GPT-4.1 Max |
| LiveCodeBench | 78.5 | 80.7 | 2.2 | o3 |
| IFEval | 92.1 | 88.7 | 3.4 | GPT-4.1 Max |
| TruthfulQA | 85.4 | 84.6 | 0.8 | GPT-4.1 Max |
| HellaSwag | 90.7 | 92.7 | 2.0 | o3 |
| MMMU | 80.5 | 82.3 | 1.8 | o3 |
| Arena Elo | 1467.6 | 1449.0 | 18.6 | GPT-4.1 Max |
Price analysis
On a blended 3:1 input-to-output basis, GPT-4.1 Max costs about $29.60 per million tokens and o3 costs about $33.05. GPT-4.1 Max is roughly 10% cheaper than o3. At high volume, that gap compounds quickly, so price should carry real weight unless the quality difference is decisive.
Both models list a 400,000-token context window. That is enough for long documents, large codebases and multi-step agent traces.
Verdict
Across 12 shared benchmarks, GPT-4.1 Max wins 7, o3 wins 5, and 0 are tied. On the index average, GPT-4.1 Max leads o3 by 0.2 points (84.7 versus 84.5).
The price picture favours GPT-4.1 Max. The context picture is effectively a tie. Those two dimensions often matter more than a few benchmark points once a model is good enough for the task.
If you need a single default, start with GPT-4.1 Max for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.
Choose GPT-4.1 Max if
- You want the higher average benchmark score in this index.
- Unit cost matters and you want the cheaper blended price.
- You need the larger 8,192-token output limit.
Choose o3 if
- You prefer OpenAI's tooling or already use it.
FAQ
Is GPT-4.1 Max better than o3?
On the index average, GPT-4.1 Max leads o3 by 0.2 points (84.7 versus 84.5). The better choice depends on price, context and your task. GPT-4.1 Max wins 7 benchmarks, o3 wins 5.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 Max or o3?
GPT-4.1 Max is cheaper on a blended 3:1 basis at about $29.60 per million tokens, versus $33.05 for o3.
Which has the larger context window?
Both models list a 400,000-token context window.
Are these models open weights?
GPT-4.1 Max is proprietary; o3 is proprietary.
Which should I choose for production?
If you need a single default, start with GPT-4.1 Max for quality-sensitive work, and check whether its price holds at your expected volume before committing.