Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 vs o4-mini
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 (2025) and o4-mini (2025) are frontier reasoning models from Google DeepMind and OpenAI. Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 ships a 1M-token context window, while o4-mini ships a not-yet-sourced context window. On Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding, o4-mini leads by 2 pts. On pricing, o4-mini costs $0.5/1M input tokens versus $1.25/1M for the alternative. This comparison covers specs, pricing, capabilities, benchmarks, provider availability, and production fit.
o4-mini is ~150% cheaper at $0.5/1M; pay for Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 only for provider fit.
Specs
| Released | 2025-05-06 | 2025-04-16 |
| Context window | 1M | — |
| Parameters | — | — |
| Architecture | decoder only | decoder only |
| License | Unknown | Proprietary |
| Knowledge cutoff | - | 2025-08 |
Pricing and availability
| Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 | o4-mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Input price | $1.25/1M tokens | $0.5/1M tokens |
| Output price | $10/1M tokens | $2/1M tokens |
| Providers |
Capabilities
| Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 | o4-mini | |
|---|---|---|
| Vision | ||
| Multimodal | ||
| Reasoning | ||
| Function calling | ||
| Tool use | ||
| Structured outputs | ||
| Code execution |
Benchmarks
| Benchmark | Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 | o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding | 79.6 | 81.6 |
Deep dive
On shared benchmark coverage, Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding has Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 at 79.6 and o4-mini at 81.6, with o4-mini ahead by 2 points. The largest visible gap is 2 points on Massive Multi-discipline Multimodal Understanding, 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 vision: o4-mini, multimodal input: o4-mini, reasoning mode: o4-mini, function calling: o4-mini, tool use: o4-mini, and code execution: o4-mini. Both models share structured outputs, 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, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 lists $1.25/1M input and $10/1M output tokens, while o4-mini lists $0.5/1M input and $2/1M output tokens on the cheapest tracked provider. A 70/30 input-output blend puts o4-mini lower by about $2.92 per million blended tokens. Availability is 1 providers versus 4, so concentration risk also matters.
Choose Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 when provider fit are central to the workload. Choose o4-mini when coding workflow support, lower input-token cost, and broader provider choice are more important. For production, rerun your own prompts through the exact provider, region, and tool stack you plan to ship.
FAQ
Which is cheaper, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or o4-mini?
o4-mini is cheaper on tracked token pricing. Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 costs $1.25/1M input and $10/1M output tokens. o4-mini costs $0.5/1M input and $2/1M output tokens. Provider discounts or batch pricing can still change the final bill.
Is Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or o4-mini open source?
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 is listed under Unknown. 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, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or o4-mini?
o4-mini has the clearer documented vision signal in this comparison. If vision is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ. Use this as a quick comparison signal, then confirm the provider-specific limits before committing to production.
Which is better for multimodal input, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or o4-mini?
o4-mini has the clearer documented multimodal input signal in this comparison. If multimodal input is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Which is better for reasoning mode, Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 or o4-mini?
o4-mini has the clearer documented reasoning mode signal in this comparison. If reasoning mode is mission-critical, validate it against the provider endpoint because model-level support and API-level exposure can differ.
Where can I run Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 and o4-mini?
Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview 05-06 is available on OpenRouter. o4-mini is available on OpenAI API, OpenRouter, OpenAI Batch API, and Replicate API. Provider coverage can affect latency, region availability, compliance posture, and fallback options.
Continue comparing
Last reviewed: 2026-04-24. Data sourced from public model cards and provider documentation.