o3-mini
OpenAI's compact reasoning model tuned for cheap, fast STEM problem-solving
About
o3-mini launched January 31, 2025 as the small, affordable entry into OpenAI's o3 reasoning family. It brought adjustable reasoning effort to a $1.10/$4.40 price point, targeting math, science, and coding where inference cost matters more than breadth. It supported function calling and structured outputs but not vision at launch, and it shipped to ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Pro users. It was quickly overshadowed by o4-mini three months later, which matched the price and added image reasoning. Still, it mattered: it proved there was real demand for a cheap reasoning tier and set the template o4-mini refined.
Specs
Context window
Pricing
Free quota
API access
Weights
Released
Benchmarks
Reported at launch: 49.3% SWE-bench Verified
Provider-reported unless a source says otherwise. Benchmarks are marketing-adjacent by nature — treat them as directional.
Use cases
Trust score — 8/10
Scored 8/10 (verified tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: Jan 31, 2025 release, $1.10/$4.40 pricing, 200K context corroborated; Adjustable reasoning effort and STEM focus verified; Superseded-by-o4-mini context captured honestly; SWE-bench 49.3% labeled as reported at launch.