Claude Haiku 4.5 vs GPT-4.1 Mini
Anthropic · US | OpenAI · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick Claude Haiku 4.5 for fastest claude model or near-frontier coding for its tier — 73.3% on swe-bench verified. Pick GPT-4.1 Mini for very cheap high-volume text work at $0.40 in / $1.60 out per million tokens or instruction following above its weight class — 84.1% on ifeval, beating gpt-4o. On a tight budget at scale, GPT-4.1 Mini is the value pick.
Claude Haiku 4.5 (Anthropic) and GPT-4.1 Mini (OpenAI) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. Claude Haiku 4.5 is anthropic's fastest, most compact model — built for speed and volume. GPT-4.1 Mini is a cheap, fast 1M-context workhorse with strong instruction following but weak coding — already retired from ChatGPT. They diverge most on price, context window and coding benchmarks — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
- ▸Price: GPT-4.1 Mini is about 2.5× cheaper on input ($0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens vs $1/$5 per 1M tokens) — meaningful once you are processing millions of tokens a month.
- ▸Context window: GPT-4.1 Mini holds 5.2× more — 1M (~1,571 pages) vs 200K (~300 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
- ▸Coding: Claude Haiku 4.5 leads SWE-Bench Verified by 49.7 points (73.3% vs 23.6%) — a real edge on hard, real-world software tasks.
- ▸Recency: Claude Haiku 4.5 is the newer model by about 6 months (released October 15, 2025), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
| Spec | Claude Haiku 4.5 | GPT-4.1 Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Anthropic (US) | OpenAI (US) |
| Released | October 15, 2025 | April 14, 2025 |
| Context window | 200K (~300 pages) | 1M (~1,571 pages) |
| Price (in/out) | $1/$5 per 1M tokens | $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens |
| Open weight? | No — API only | No — API only |
| Modalities | text, image, code | text, image, code |
| SWE-Bench Verified | 73.3% | 23.6% |
| MRCR v2 @ 1M | Not published | Not published |
Who wins what
Fastest Claude model
Claude Haiku 4.5
Anthropic's fastest, most compact model — built for speed and volume — and it leads SWE-Bench Verified 73.3% to 23.6%.
Near-frontier coding for its tier — 73.3% on SWE-Bench Verified
Claude Haiku 4.5
It scores 73.3% on SWE-Bench Verified against GPT-4.1 Mini's 23.6% — a 49.7-point edge on real repository work.
Low-latency, high-volume API calls
Claude Haiku 4.5
Anthropic's fastest, most compact model — built for speed and volume — and it is the newer of the two.
Very cheap high-volume text work at $0.40 in / $1.60 out per million tokens
GPT-4.1 Mini
At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Haiku 4.5 ($1/$5 per 1M tokens), and that gap compounds at volume.
Instruction following above its weight class — 84.1% on IFEval, beating GPT-4o
GPT-4.1 Mini
A cheap, fast 1M-context workhorse with strong instruction following but weak coding — already retired from ChatGPT — and it runs cheaper at $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens.
Multi-turn coherence for its tier — 35.8% on MultiChallenge, roughly 1.8x GPT-4o mini
GPT-4.1 Mini
A cheap, fast 1M-context workhorse with strong instruction following but weak coding — already retired from ChatGPT — and it carries the larger 1M context.
Lowest cost at scale
GPT-4.1 Mini
At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
GPT-4.1 Mini
Its 1M window is about 5.2× larger than Claude Haiku 4.5's 200K, fitting roughly 1,571 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ GPT-4.1 Mini
At $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens it undercuts Claude Haiku 4.5, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ GPT-4.1 Mini
Larger 1M window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is fastest claude model
→ Claude Haiku 4.5
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very cheap high-volume text work at $0.40 in / $1.60 out per million tokens
→ GPT-4.1 Mini
That is its strongest area.
Claude Haiku 4.5: where it fits
Anthropic's fastest, most compact model — built for speed and volume. Released October 15, 2025 by Anthropic, it is built for fastest Claude model, near-frontier coding for its tier — 73.3% on SWE-Bench Verified, low-latency, high-volume API calls, and cheapest Claude tier at $1/$5.
Its trade-offs are real: smallest context in the family (200K), and not for deep reasoning. At $1 in / $5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
GPT-4.1 Mini: where it fits
A cheap, fast 1M-context workhorse with strong instruction following but weak coding — already retired from ChatGPT. Released April 14, 2025 by OpenAI, it is built for very cheap high-volume text work at $0.40 in / $1.60 out per million tokens, instruction following above its weight class — 84.1% on IFEval, beating GPT-4o, multi-turn coherence for its tier — 35.8% on MultiChallenge, roughly 1.8x GPT-4o mini, and a full 1M context at flat pricing, with no long-context premium.
Its trade-offs: weak at agentic coding — its 23.6% on SWE-Bench Verified sits below GPT-4o's 33.2%, retired from ChatGPT in February 2026, and OpenAI's own docs now point users to GPT-5 mini instead, and a June 2024 knowledge cutoff, now roughly two years stale, and no reasoning mode. At $0.4 in / $1.6 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
The bottom line for this matchup
Claude Haiku 4.5 and GPT-4.1 Mini overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. GPT-4.1 Mini costs less per token; GPT-4.1 Mini holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — Claude Haiku 4.5 for fastest claude model, GPT-4.1 Mini for very cheap high-volume text work at $0.40 in / $1.60 out per million tokens. Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both Claude Haiku 4.5 and GPT-4.1 Mini without two subscriptions? LumiChats gives you these plus 40+ models under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day) — draft with one, cross-check with the other.
See pricingFrequently asked questions
Is Claude Haiku 4.5 or GPT-4.1 Mini better for coding?
On SWE-Bench Verified, Claude Haiku 4.5 scores 73.3% and GPT-4.1 Mini scores 23.6% — Claude Haiku 4.5 has the measurable edge.
Which is cheaper, Claude Haiku 4.5 or GPT-4.1 Mini?
GPT-4.1 Mini is cheaper — $1/$5 per 1M tokens vs $0.4/$1.6 per 1M tokens, roughly 2.5× apart on input.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-4.1 Mini — 1M vs 200K, about 5.2× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both Claude Haiku 4.5 and GPT-4.1 Mini together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you Claude Haiku 4.5, GPT-4.1 Mini and 40+ others under one ₹69/day pass (about $1/day), so you can draft with one and cross-check with the other instead of buying two subscriptions.
Which is newer, Claude Haiku 4.5 or GPT-4.1 Mini?
Claude Haiku 4.5 — released October 15, 2025, about 6 months after GPT-4.1 Mini.
Related comparisons
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.