GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B

    Comparison

    As of August 25, 2026, GPT OSS 20B is 88% cheaper per million tokens than GPT-4.1 mini. GPT-4.1 mini is $0.40 / $1.60 per million input/output tokens versus GPT OSS 20B at $0.05 / $0.20. Source: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing

    Source: OpenAI API pricing (https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing)

    GPT-4.1 mini

    OpenAI

    $2.00blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.40

    Output

    $1.60

    1M ctx|Proprietary
    88%
    cheaper
    Better value

    GPT OSS 20B

    OpenAI

    $0.25blended / 1M

    Input

    $0.05

    Output

    $0.20

    131.1K ctx|Open Source
    Save $1.75 per million tokens by choosing GPT OSS 20B over GPT-4.1 mini.

    GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B comparison

    Token pricing, specs, and benchmarks side by side

    Shared benchmarks

    Each bar is share of the current leader on that eval. Click a row to open the board.

    Score vs price

    tau-bench Retail. Left is cheaper. Up is a higher score. The line is the best score you can buy at each price.

    Best score at each priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT OSS 20B
    Metric
    GPT-4.1 mini
    GPT OSS 20B
    Provider
    Provider
    OpenAI
    OpenAI
    License
    Proprietary
    Open Source
    Release Date
    2025-04-14
    2025-08-05
    Pricing (per 1M tokens)
    Input Price+700%
    $0.40
    $0.05
    Output Price+700%
    $1.60
    $0.20
    Blended (1M + 1M)
    $2.00
    $0.25
    Model Details
    Context Window
    1M
    131.1K
    Max Output Tokens
    32.8K
    32.8K
    Knowledge Cutoff
    2024-05-31
    N/A
    Throughput
    150 tok/s
    1000 tok/s
    Benchmarks
    3.7%
    10.9%
    65%
    71.5%
    65.8%
    68.9%
    58.2%
    80.4%
    40.4%
    84.1%
    78.5%
    56.8%
    40.2%
    86.0%
    49.6%
    88%
    94.2%
    50.5%
    87.5%
    85.3%
    72.7%
    87.3%
    88.4%
    74.3%
    54.6%
    57.9%
    53.1%
    0%
    42.5%
    35%
    73.1%
    84.6%
    82.9%
    87.8%
    89.0%
    77.2%
    71.6%
    67%
    71.9%
    63.7%
    Benchmark Wins
    GPT-4.1 mini 6|7 GPT OSS 20B

    Verdict

    GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B: the bottom line

    GPT OSS 20B offers both lower pricing and stronger benchmark performance across the board, making it the clear value leader in this comparison.

    GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B FAQ

    Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini or GPT OSS 20B?

    As of August 25, 2026, GPT OSS 20B is 88% cheaper on blended LLM API pricing. GPT OSS 20B costs $0.05 per million input tokens and $0.20 per million output tokens ($0.25 blended 1M-in + 1M-out). GPT-4.1 mini costs $0.40 / $1.60 per million tokens ($2.00 blended). Sources: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing. The cheapest LLM for your app still depends on how many output tokens you generate.

    How much does GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B cost per million tokens?

    GPT-4.1 mini OpenAI API pricing is $0.40 input and $1.60 output per million tokens via OpenAI. GPT OSS 20B OpenAI API pricing is $0.05 input and $0.20 output per million tokens via OpenAI. Use those four numbers, not ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro subscription prices, when you are comparing APIs.

    Which is better for coding, GPT-4.1 mini or GPT OSS 20B?

    GPT-4.1 mini has a published SWE-bench Verified score of 23.6%. GPT OSS 20B does not have that eval on this page yet.

    What is the context window for GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B?

    GPT-4.1 mini supports a 1M token context window, while GPT OSS 20B supports 131K tokens. GPT-4.1 mini offers a larger context window. Filling a larger window bills more input tokens, so the cheaper-per-million model can still cost more on long documents.

    Which model performs better on benchmarks, GPT-4.1 mini or GPT OSS 20B?

    GPT OSS 20B leads on 7 of 13 shared benchmarks versus GPT-4.1 mini's 6 wins. Check the comparison table for GPQA Diamond, SWE-bench, MMLU, HLE, and the other evals we track. Token price and benchmark score together are the usual LLM comparison, not either number alone.

    Is GPT-4.1 mini or GPT OSS 20B better for production use?

    Both GPT-4.1 mini and GPT OSS 20B are production API models. For cost-sensitive production traffic, GPT OSS 20B has better economics on the blended 1M-in + 1M-out scale. For maximum capability, weight the benchmark table for your domain. Many production stacks route cheap models for drafts and a frontier model for the hard turn, which is usually cheaper than sending everything to the expensive API.

    Can I switch between GPT-4.1 mini and GPT OSS 20B in my app?

    Yes. Call GPT-4.1 mini through OpenAI and GPT OSS 20B through OpenAI with separate API keys, or through a gateway that already wraps both. Keep prompts in tokens, not characters, when you estimate the invoice. AnotherWrapper templates can swap providers without rewriting auth and billing.

    How accurate is this GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B pricing data?

    List rates are the latest published OpenAI API pricing and OpenAI API pricing, quoted per million tokens. Official rate sheets: https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing and https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/pricing. Prompt caching, batch APIs, and committed-use discounts can change the invoice. Benchmark scores are from official publications and independent evals, updated as new numbers land.

    What is the output token limit for GPT-4.1 mini and GPT OSS 20B?

    GPT-4.1 mini supports up to 33K output tokens per request, while GPT OSS 20B supports up to 33K output tokens. Output tokens are usually the expensive half of API pricing, so a higher max output cap is a capability, not a discount.

    Which model has better throughput, GPT-4.1 mini or GPT OSS 20B?

    GPT-4.1 mini runs at approximately 150 tokens/second while GPT OSS 20B runs at 1000 tokens/second. GPT OSS 20B is faster in raw throughput. Throughput (tokens per second) and time-to-first-token are why two models with the same per-million-token price can still feel different in chat and agents.

    How do I switch the models in this GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B comparison?

    Use the model pickers at the top of this LLM comparison. Search any model in the index and the URL updates. Open GPT-4.1 mini or GPT OSS 20B from the sidebar for the single-model API pricing page, or go back to the LLM pricing table to sort by cheapest blended cost.

    GPT-4.1 mini vs GPT OSS 20B pricing

    This comparison covers API pricing, context window, throughput, and benchmark scores. GPT-4.1 mini costs $0.40/M input and $1.60/M output. GPT OSS 20B costs $0.05/M input and $0.20/M output.

    Rank both on the LLM leaderboard, SWE-bench, and Humanity's Last Exam.

    The index

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