GPT-4.1 vs GPT-4o: Which AI Model Is Better for Developers?
1. Introduction
OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 is now available to Pro users and API developers—and it’s making waves. Compared to GPT-4o and the earlier GPT-4-turbo (November 2023), GPT-4.1 delivers better code understanding, longer context handling, and more accurate responses. But how does it really stack up for developers and power users?
In this article, we’ll compare GPT-4.1 to GPT-4o and GPT-4.5 (where possible), with a focus on real-world developer use: code accuracy, context limits, latency, and cost.
Quick Comparison
| Feature | GPT-4.1 | GPT-4o | GPT-4.5 (Preview) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context Length | Up to 1M tokens | 128k tokens | 128k tokens |
| Code Accuracy (SWE-bench) | 39.2% (diff mode) | 27.2% | 34.4% |
| Instruction Following | Better (MMLU, ARC) | Good | Great |
| Latency | Fast (~GPT-4o) | Fast | Fast |
| Multimodal | No (API only) | Yes (free/Pro) | Not yet |
| Cost | Same as GPT-4o | Same | N/A |
| Availability | API + Pro | Free + Pro | API-only |
2. Major Upgrades in GPT-4.1
2.1 Instruction Following: More Accurate with Less Prompting
GPT-4.1 performs better in general knowledge and reasoning tasks with less prompt engineering. It outperforms GPT-4o in:
- MMLU (Multitask Language Understanding)
- ARC (AI2 Reasoning Challenge)
- HellaSwag and DROP benchmarks
This means it handles complex reasoning, logic chaining, and completion tasks more reliably.
2.2 Better Coding Performance (SWE-bench, Graphwalk)
GPT-4.1 shows significant improvement in code understanding and generation:
- SWE-bench (diff mode): 39.2% vs GPT-4o’s 27.2%
- Graphwalk (Reasoning Graphs): 94.9% vs GPT-4o’s 92.9%
It even matches or beats Claude 3 Opus on several code-heavy benchmarks.
2.3 1 Million Token Context Window
GPT-4.1 supports up to 1 million tokens in the API (nano + flash variants).
This enables:
- Ingesting massive codebases (monorepos)
- Long legal contracts
- Whole application-level reasoning
Latency is only marginally higher than GPT-4o, thanks to Mixture of Experts and Flash Attention v2 optimizations.
3. Multimodal Differences
GPT-4o supports voice, vision, and text natively in ChatGPT. GPT-4.1, by contrast, is a text-only model (though you can add vision via routing or wrappers).
So if you're building multimodal apps (voice assistants, vision-based UIs), GPT-4o is still your best choice.
But for pure code and structured input/output tasks, GPT-4.1 is superior.
4. Independent Benchmarks & Reviews
4.1 Windsurf
Open source benchmark “Windsurf” compared GPT-4.1 and GPT-4o on a range of dev tasks:
- GPT-4.1: 20.3% better on full prompt + completion tests
- “Feels like a new model”—especially on correctness and accuracy
4.2 BlueJ Legal Logic
A legal prompt test comparing LLMs on logic-heavy contract questions:
- GPT-4.1: 84% accuracy
- GPT-4o: 64%
- Claude Opus: 67%
4.3 Hex SQL Editor
Tested via Hex’s AI SQL workspace:
- GPT-4.1 outperformed GPT-4o and Claude 3 Opus in writing and debugging SQL queries across real business cases
5. Developer Cost & API Performance
GPT-4.1 is available in two variants via API:
gpt-4-1106-preview(flash mode)gpt-4-1106-vision-preview(image input only)
Prices are identical to GPT-4o:
- Input: $0.01 / 1K tokens
- Output: $0.03 / 1K tokens
Flash mode allows for context compression and token caching, making long chats affordable. One dev on LMarena noted generating a full 10,000-line React app with under $1 in cost.
6. Conclusion: GPT-4.1 or GPT-4o?
GPT-4o is great for general users and multimodal apps.
But for developers, GPT-4.1 is clearly the better choice:
- Superior code accuracy
- 1 million token context window
- Better instruction-following and reasoning
It’s fast, powerful, and consistent—everything you want from a dev-focused LLM.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is GPT-4.1 better than GPT-4o?
Yes, especially for development, code generation, and reasoning. GPT-4.1 is 53% more accurate on average.
How many tokens can GPT-4.1 handle?
Up to 1 million in API mode (Flash/Nano variants).
Is GPT-4.1 multimodal?
No. GPT-4.1 is text-only. GPT-4o supports voice, vision, and text.
What is the latency of GPT-4.1?
Similar to GPT-4o in Flash mode. GPT-4.1 Flash is optimized for speed and memory.
Which model should developers use?
For pure coding tasks, GPT-4.1. For multimodal applications, GPT-4o.
