Claude 3.5 Sonnet vs o4-mini
Claude 3.5 Sonnet (2024) and o4-mini (2025) are frontier-tier reasoning models from Anthropic and OpenAI. Claude 3.5 Sonnet ships a 200k-token context window, while o4-mini ships a 200k-token context window. On MMLU PRO, o4-mini leads by 6 pts. On pricing, o4-mini costs $1/1M input tokens versus $3/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, API access, capabilities, benchmarks, input and output token costs, and production fit for coding and agent workloads.
o4-mini is ~200% cheaper at $1/1M; pay for Claude 3.5 Sonnet only for coding workflow support.
Decision scorecard
Local evidence first| Signal | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents | reasoning-heavy apps, multimodal apps, and tool-calling agents |
| Decision fit | Coding, RAG, and Agents | Coding, RAG, and Agents |
| Context window | 200k | 200k |
| Cheapest output | $15/1M tokens | $4/1M tokens |
| Provider routes | 6 tracked | 4 tracked |
| Shared benchmarks | 5 shared | MMLU PRO leader |
Decision tradeoffs
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet has broader tracked provider coverage for fallback and procurement flexibility.
- Local decision data tags Claude 3.5 Sonnet for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
- o4-mini holds a shared-benchmark lead on MMLU PRO, ahead by 6 points.
- o4-mini has the lower cheapest tracked output price at $4/1M tokens.
- o4-mini uniquely exposes Tool use in local model data.
- Local decision data tags o4-mini for Coding, RAG, and Agents.
Monthly cost at traffic
Estimate token spend from the cheapest tracked input and output route or tier on this page.
Claude 3.5 Sonnet
$6,150
Cheapest tracked route/tier: GCP Vertex AI
o4-mini
$1,800
Cheapest tracked route/tier: Replicate API
Estimated monthly gap: $4,350. Batch, cache, alternate speed tiers, and negotiated pricing are excluded from this local estimate.
Switch friction
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and Replicate API; start route-level A/B tests there.
- o4-mini is $11/1M tokens lower on cheapest tracked output pricing before cache, batch, or negotiated discounts.
- o4-mini adds Tool use in local capability data.
- Provider overlap exists on OpenRouter and Replicate API; start route-level A/B tests there.
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet is $11/1M tokens higher on cheapest tracked output pricing, so quality gains need to justify the spend.
- Check replacement coverage for Tool use before moving production traffic.
Specs
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Released | 2024-06-20 | 2025-04-16 |
| Context window | 200k | 200k |
| Parameters | 70B | — |
| Architecture | Decoder Only | Decoder Only |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Openness | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Commercial use | Commercial use: conditional | Commercial use: conditional |
| Knowledge cutoff | 2024-04 | 2025-08 |
Pricing and availability
| Pricing attribute | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $3/1M tokens | $1/1M tokens |
| Output price | $15/1M tokens | $4/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Capability | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | Yes | Yes |
| Multimodal | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yes |
| Function calling | Yes | Yes |
| Tool use | No | Yes |
| Structured outputs | Yes | Yes |
| Code execution | Yes | Yes |
| IDE integration | No | No |
| Computer use | No | No |
| Parallel agents | No | No |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Claude 3.5 Sonnet | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| MMLU PRO | 77.2 | 83.2 |
| SWE-bench Verified | 49.0 | 68.1 |
| LiveCodeBench | 48.7 | 87.3 |
| Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding | 68.3 | 81.6 |
| Aider Polyglot | 51.6 | 72.0 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, MMLU PRO has Claude 3.5 Sonnet at 77.2 and o4-mini at 83.2, with o4-mini ahead by 6 points; SWE-bench Verified has Claude 3.5 Sonnet at 49 and o4-mini at 68.1, with o4-mini ahead by 19.1 points; LiveCodeBench has Claude 3.5 Sonnet at 48.7 and o4-mini at 87.3, with o4-mini ahead by 38.6 points. The largest visible gap is 38.6 points on LiveCodeBench, which matters most when that benchmark mirrors your workload. Treat isolated benchmark wins as directional, because provider routing, prompt style, and tool access can move real application results.
The capability footprint differs most on tool use: o4-mini. Both models share vision, multimodal input, reasoning mode, and function calling, so the practical split is not just feature count. Use those differences to decide whether the page is about raw model quality, agentic coding support, multimodal ingestion, or predictable structured API behavior.
For cost, Claude 3.5 Sonnet lists $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider, while o4-mini lists $1/1M input and $4/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts o4-mini lower by about $4.70 per million blended tokens. Availability is 6 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Claude 3.5 Sonnet when coding workflow support and broader provider choice are central to the workload. Choose o4-mini when coding workflow support and lower input-token cost are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which has a larger context window, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or o4-mini?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet supports 200k tokens, while o4-mini supports 200k tokens. That gap matters most for long documents, large codebases, retrieval-heavy agents, and conversations where earlier context must remain visible.
Which is cheaper, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or o4-mini?
o4-mini is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Claude 3.5 Sonnet costs $3/1M input and $15/1M output tokens. o4-mini costs $1/1M input and $4/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Claude 3.5 Sonnet or o4-mini open source?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is listed under Proprietary. o4-mini is listed under Proprietary. License labels affect whether you can self-host, redistribute weights, or rely only on hosted APIs, so confirm the upstream license before deployment.
Which is better for vision, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or o4-mini?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and o4-mini expose vision. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is better for multimodal input, Claude 3.5 Sonnet or o4-mini?
Both Claude 3.5 Sonnet and o4-mini expose multimodal input. The better choice depends on benchmark fit, context budget, pricing, and whether your provider route exposes the same capability surface. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Where can I run Claude 3.5 Sonnet and o4-mini?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet is available on GCP Vertex AI, AWS Bedrock, Anthropic, OpenRouter, and Microsoft Foundry. o4-mini is available on OpenAI API, OpenRouter, Replicate API, and Vercel AI Gateway. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-06-15. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.