Model comparison
GPT-4.1 vs o3
Head-to-head evidence from 15 shared benchmark results across 7 categories. Overall scores shown here use the public BenchAlign v5 ranking lane.
Public leaderboard positions: GPT-4.1 #108 (Supported); o3 #131 (Supported). Intervals and evidence labels describe ranking uncertainty, not a guarantee for a specific workload.
Evidence parity. GPT-4.1 and o3 share 15 comparable benchmark results. 1 of 8 categories are comparable. 5 results are unique to GPT-4.1; 1 to o3.
Updated July 23, 2026- Shared results
- 15
- GPT-4.1 only
- 5
- o3 only
- 1
- Comparable categories
- 1 / 8
Pick GPT-4.1 if you want the stronger benchmark profile. o3 only becomes the better choice if mathematics is the priority or you want the stronger reasoning-first profile.
Confidence note. This is a partial-evidence comparison with 15 shared benchmark results across 7 evidence categories; 1 of 8 categories currently have scoreable aggregates for both models. Treat the verdict as directional until coverage is more balanced.
Why this result
GPT-4.1 is clearly ahead on the BenchAlign aggregate, 51.11 to 47.89. The gap is large enough that you do not need to squint at the spreadsheet to see the difference.
o3 is the reasoning model in the pair, while GPT-4.1 is not. That usually helps on harder chain-of-thought-heavy tests, but it can also mean more latency and more token spend in real use. GPT-4.1 gives you the larger context window at 1M, compared with 200K for o3.
Category breakdown
Exact category averages are shown below. Not measured means BenchLM does not have enough sourced public coverage for that model and category.
| Category | GPT-4.1 | Δ | o3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math | GPT-4.14.1 | Margin→ 10.4 | o314.5 |
| Coding | GPT-4.154.6 | MarginNo overlap | o3Not measured |
| Knowledge | GPT-4.166.3 | MarginNo overlap | o3Not measured |
| Inst. Following | GPT-4.187.4 | MarginNo overlap | o3Not measured |
Decisive benchmark drivers
The largest measured benchmark gaps in this matchup, with exact reported values.
More
- Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3)
MathA 5.517%B 18.685%Winner: o3Δ 13.2FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3): GPT-4.1 scored 5.517%; o3 scored 18.685%. o3 wins this benchmark. - Source ↗
FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4)
MathA 0.000%B 2.083%Winner: o3Δ 2.1FrontierMath v2 (Tier 4): GPT-4.1 scored 0.000%; o3 scored 2.083%. o3 wins this benchmark.
Operational comparison
Runtime and commercial metrics are compared only when both models have a complete sourced value.
| Metric | GPT-4.1 | o3 | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input / output priceUSD per 1M tokens | GPT-4.1$2 input / $8 output | o3$2 input / $8 output | Listed prices are equal. |
| Generation speedtokens per second | GPT-4.1108 tok/s | o3118 tok/s | o3 has the higher measured throughput. |
| First-answer latencyseconds to first token | GPT-4.11.02 s | o35.38 s | GPT-4.1 reaches the first token sooner. |
| Context windowmaximum listed tokens | GPT-4.11M | o3200K | GPT-4.1 lists the larger context window. |
Benchmark Deep Dive
Agentic2 benchmarks
Coding2 benchmarks
Reasoning2 benchmarks
Knowledge8 benchmarks
| Benchmark | GPT-4.1 | o3 | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| MMLUSource | 90.2% | — | Not comparable |
| GPQASource | 66.3% | — | Not comparable |
| Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexSource | 19.4% | 30.4% | o3 leads |
| AA-GPQA DiamondSource | 66.6% | 82.7% | o3 leads |
| AA-HLESource | 4.6% | 20.0% | o3 leads |
| AA-Omniscience IndexSource | -36.2% | -15.3% | o3 leads |
| AA-Omniscience AccuracySource | 24.2% | 38.4% | o3 leads |
| AA-Omniscience Hallucination RateSource | 79.6% | 87.1% | GPT-4.1 leads |
Matho3 wins3 benchmarks
Multimodal2 benchmarks
Frequently Asked Questions (2)
Which is better, GPT-4.1 or o3?
GPT-4.1 is ahead on BenchLM's BenchAlign leaderboard, 51.11 to 47.89. The biggest single separator in this matchup is FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3), where the scores are 5.517% and 18.685%.
Which is better for math, GPT-4.1 or o3?
o3 has the edge for math in this comparison, averaging 14.5 versus 4.1. Inside this category, FrontierMath v2 (Tiers 1-3) is the benchmark that creates the most daylight between them.
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