GPT-4o vs GPT-5.5
| Signal | GPT-4o | Delta | GPT-5.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
Capabilities | 67 | -33 | |
Benchmarks | 74 | -18 | |
Pricing | 90 | +20 | |
Context window size | 81 | -14 | |
Recency | 0 | -100 | |
Output Capacity | 70 | -15 | |
| Overall Result | 1 wins | of 6 | 5 wins |
Score History
71.2
current score
GPT-5.5
right now
92.7
current score
GPT-4o
OpenAI
GPT-5.5
OpenAI
GPT-4o saves you $1250.00/month
That's $15000.00/year compared to GPT-5.5 at your current usage level of 100K calls/month.
| Metric | GPT-4o | GPT-5.5 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall Score | 71 | 93 | GPT-5.5 |
| Rank | #111 | #9 | GPT-5.5 |
| Quality Rank | #111 | #9 | GPT-5.5 |
| Adoption Rank | #111 | #9 | GPT-5.5 |
| Parameters | -- | -- | -- |
| Context Window | 128K | 1050K | GPT-5.5 |
| Pricing | $2.50/$10.00/M | $5.00/$30.00/M | -- |
| Signal Scores | |||
| Capabilities | 67 | 100 | GPT-5.5 |
| Benchmarks | 74 | 93 | GPT-5.5 |
| Pricing | 90 | 70 | GPT-4o |
| Context window size | 81 | 96 | GPT-5.5 |
| Recency | 0 | 100 | GPT-5.5 |
| Output Capacity | 70 | 85 | GPT-5.5 |
Our score (0-100) is driven by benchmark performance (90%) from Arena Elo ratings, MMLU, GPQA, HumanEval, SWE-bench, and 15+ standardized evaluations. Capabilities and context window serve as tiebreakers (10%). Learn more about our methodology.
Scores 71/100 (rank #111), placing it in the top 62% of all 290 models tracked.
Scores 93/100 (rank #9), placing it in the top 97% of all 290 models tracked.
GPT-5.5 has a 22-point advantage, which typically translates to noticeably stronger performance on complex reasoning, code generation, and multi-step tasks.
Choose GPT-4o when you need:
- High-volume production workloads where API costs must be minimized
Choose GPT-5.5 when you need:
- Processing long documents or large codebases (1050K token context)
- Step-by-step reasoning and chain-of-thought problem solving
GPT-4o offers 64% better value per quality point. At 1M tokens/day, you'd spend $187.50/month with GPT-4o vs $525.00/month with GPT-5.5 - a $337.50 monthly difference.
Both models have comparable response speeds. For most applications, the latency difference is negligible.
When latency matters most: Interactive chatbots, IDE code completion, real-time translation, and user-facing applications where response time directly impacts experience. For batch processing, background summarization, or offline analysis, latency is less critical.
Code generation & review
Based on overall model capabilities and architecture for coding tasks like generating functions, debugging, and refactoring
Customer support chatbot
Suitable for user-facing chat with competitive response times. GPT-4o also offers lower per-token costs for high-volume support
Long document analysis
Larger context window (1050K tokens) can process longer documents, contracts, and research papers in a single pass
Batch data extraction
Lower output pricing ($10.00/M) reduces costs when processing thousands of records daily
Creative writing & content
Higher overall composite score (93/100) correlates with better nuance, coherence, and style in long-form content
Image understanding & OCR
Supports vision input - can analyze screenshots, diagrams, photos, and scanned documents directly
GPT-5.5 clearly outperforms GPT-4o with a significant 21.5-point lead. For most general use cases, GPT-5.5 is the stronger choice. However, GPT-4o may still excel in niche scenarios.
By Use Case
Best for Quality
GPT-4o
Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
Best for Cost
GPT-4o
64% lower pricing; better value at scale
Best for Reliability
GPT-4o
Higher uptime and faster response speeds
Best for Prototyping
GPT-4o
Stronger community support and better developer experience
Best for Production
GPT-4o
Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
by OpenAI
- Choose for Quality - Marginally better benchmark scores; both are excellent
- Choose for Cost - 64% lower pricing; better value at scale
- Choose for Reliability - Higher uptime and faster response speeds
- Choose for Prototyping - Stronger community support and better developer experience
- Choose for Production - Wider enterprise adoption and proven at scale
| Capability | GPT-4o | GPT-5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Vision (Image Input) | ||
| Function Calling | ||
| Streaming | ||
| JSON Mode | ||
| Reasoningdiffers | ||
| Web Searchdiffers | ||
| Image Output |
GPT-4o
OpenAI
GPT-5.5
OpenAI
GPT-4o saves you $28.50/month
That's 63% cheaper than GPT-5.5 at 1,000 tokens/request and 100 requests/day.
Assumes 60% input / 40% output token ratio per request. Actual costs may vary based on your usage pattern.
| Parameter | GPT-4o | GPT-5.5 |
|---|---|---|
| Context Window | 128K | 1.1M |
| Max Output Tokens | 16,384 | 128,000 |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Created | May 13, 2024 | Apr 24, 2026 |