Pick GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user or fast, low-cost general tasks. Pick MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%) or microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without openai distillation. On a tight budget at scale, MAI-Thinking-1 is the value pick.
GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI) and MAI-Thinking-1 (Microsoft) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. GPT-5.4 Mini is openAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. MAI-Thinking-1 is microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences
Context window: GPT-5.4 Mini holds 1.6× more — 400K (~600 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
Recency: MAI-Thinking-1 is the newer model by about 3 months (released June 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Specifications
Spec
GPT-5.4 Mini
MAI-Thinking-1
Provider
OpenAI (US)
Microsoft (US)
Released
March 17, 2026
June 2, 2026
Context window
400K (~600 pages)
256K (~384 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens
Not published
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Free for every ChatGPT user: GPT-5.4 Mini — A core design strength of GPT-5.4 Mini.
Fast, low-cost general tasks: GPT-5.4 Mini — A core design strength of GPT-5.4 Mini.
Subagent capabilities: GPT-5.4 Mini — A core design strength of GPT-5.4 Mini.
Very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%): MAI-Thinking-1 — A core design strength of MAI-Thinking-1.
Microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation: MAI-Thinking-1 — A core design strength of MAI-Thinking-1.
Efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class: MAI-Thinking-1 — A core design strength of MAI-Thinking-1.
Lowest cost at scale: MAI-Thinking-1 — At Not published, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input: GPT-5.4 Mini — Its 400K window is about 1.6× larger, fitting roughly 600 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume: MAI-Thinking-1 — At Not published it undercuts GPT-5.4 Mini, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases: GPT-5.4 Mini — Larger 400K window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is free for every chatgpt user: GPT-5.4 Mini — It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%): MAI-Thinking-1 — That is its strongest area.
GPT-5.4 Mini: where it fits
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Released March 17, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for free for every ChatGPT user, fast, low-cost general tasks, subagent capabilities, and native multimodal reasoning.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than flagship models, and not for the hardest reasoning. At $0.75 in / $4.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
MAI-Thinking-1: where it fits
Microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. Released June 2, 2026 by Microsoft, it is built for very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%), microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation, efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class, and competitive with Claude Opus 4.6 on SWE-Bench Pro (vendor-reported).
Its trade-offs: closed and in private preview — no open weights, no published pricing, thin availability, and benchmarks are largely self-reported.
The bottom line for this matchup
GPT-5.4 Mini and MAI-Thinking-1 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. MAI-Thinking-1 costs less per token; GPT-5.4 Mini holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user, MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Frequently asked questions
Is GPT-5.4 Mini or MAI-Thinking-1 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, GPT-5.4 Mini leans toward free for every chatgpt user while MAI-Thinking-1 leans toward very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 Mini or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 is cheaper — $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens vs Not published.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Mini — 400K vs 256K, about 1.6× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-5.4 Mini and MAI-Thinking-1 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-5.4 Mini, MAI-Thinking-1 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, GPT-5.4 Mini or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 — released June 2, 2026, about 3 months after GPT-5.4 Mini.
GPT-5.4 Mini vs MAI-Thinking-1
OpenAI · US | Microsoft · US · Updated June 2026
Quick verdict
Pick GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user or fast, low-cost general tasks. Pick MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%) or microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without openai distillation. On a tight budget at scale, MAI-Thinking-1 is the value pick.
GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI) and MAI-Thinking-1 (Microsoft) are two of the models people most often weigh against each other in 2026. GPT-5.4 Mini is openAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. MAI-Thinking-1 is microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. They diverge most on price and context window — each quantified below from the models' real specs.
Key differences at a glance
▸Context window: GPT-5.4 Mini holds 1.6× more — 400K (~600 pages) vs 256K (~384 pages). But effective recall usually fades long before the advertised ceiling, so the bigger number only helps if the model reasons over it.
▸Recency: MAI-Thinking-1 is the newer model by about 3 months (released June 2, 2026), usually meaning fresher training data and capabilities.
Side-by-side specs
Spec
GPT-5.4 Mini
MAI-Thinking-1
Provider
OpenAI (US)
Microsoft (US)
Released
March 17, 2026
June 2, 2026
Context window
400K (~600 pages)
256K (~384 pages)
Price (in/out)
$0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens
Not published
Open weight?
No — API only
No — API only
Modalities
text, image, code
text, code
SWE-Bench Verified
Not published
Not published
MRCR v2 @ 1M
Not published
Not published
Who wins what
Free for every ChatGPT user
GPT-5.4 Mini
A core design strength of GPT-5.4 Mini.
Fast, low-cost general tasks
GPT-5.4 Mini
A core design strength of GPT-5.4 Mini.
Subagent capabilities
GPT-5.4 Mini
A core design strength of GPT-5.4 Mini.
Very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%)
MAI-Thinking-1
A core design strength of MAI-Thinking-1.
Microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation
MAI-Thinking-1
A core design strength of MAI-Thinking-1.
Efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class
MAI-Thinking-1
A core design strength of MAI-Thinking-1.
Lowest cost at scale
MAI-Thinking-1
At Not published, it is the cheaper of the two — the gap dominates the bill on high-volume workloads.
Largest single-prompt input
GPT-5.4 Mini
Its 400K window is about 1.6× larger, fitting roughly 600 pages in one prompt.
Which should you pick?
A cost-sensitive startup shipping high volume
→ MAI-Thinking-1
At Not published it undercuts GPT-5.4 Mini, and on millions of tokens that margin decides the monthly bill.
Someone analysing very long documents or codebases
→ GPT-5.4 Mini
Larger 400K window fits more in one prompt.
Anyone whose priority is free for every chatgpt user
→ GPT-5.4 Mini
It is specifically built for that.
Anyone whose priority is very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%)
→ MAI-Thinking-1
That is its strongest area.
GPT-5.4 Mini: where it fits
OpenAI's free, fast workhorse — capable general AI with no subscription needed. Released March 17, 2026 by OpenAI, it is built for free for every ChatGPT user, fast, low-cost general tasks, subagent capabilities, and native multimodal reasoning.
Its trade-offs are real: smaller context than flagship models, and not for the hardest reasoning. At $0.75 in / $4.5 out per million tokens, it sits in the budget price band.
MAI-Thinking-1: where it fits
Microsoft's first fully in-house flagship reasoning model — a Claude-class reasoner built independently to cut its OpenAI dependence. Released June 2, 2026 by Microsoft, it is built for very strong math reasoning (AIME 2025 97%, AIME 2026 94.5%), microsoft's first in-house flagship reasoner, trained without OpenAI distillation, efficient reasoning at low token cost for its class, and competitive with Claude Opus 4.6 on SWE-Bench Pro (vendor-reported).
Its trade-offs: closed and in private preview — no open weights, no published pricing, thin availability, and benchmarks are largely self-reported.
The bottom line for this matchup
GPT-5.4 Mini and MAI-Thinking-1 overlap enough that the right pick depends on your specific job. MAI-Thinking-1 costs less per token; GPT-5.4 Mini holds the larger context; and each leads in its own area — GPT-5.4 Mini for free for every chatgpt user, MAI-Thinking-1 for very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%). Rather than crowning one, run the same hard task through both once and let the results decide.
Want both GPT-5.4 Mini and MAI-Thinking-1 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.
Is GPT-5.4 Mini or MAI-Thinking-1 better for coding?
Public SWE-Bench figures are not available for either model, so the honest test is your own repository — run an identical real bug through both. By design, GPT-5.4 Mini leans toward free for every chatgpt user while MAI-Thinking-1 leans toward very strong math reasoning (aime 2025 97%, aime 2026 94.5%), and that positioning usually predicts which feels better on your codebase.
Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 Mini or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 is cheaper — $0.75/$4.5 per 1M tokens vs Not published.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-5.4 Mini — 400K vs 256K, about 1.6× larger. Useful only if the model actually reasons over the full window, which not all do.
Can I use both GPT-5.4 Mini and MAI-Thinking-1 together?
Yes — a multi-model platform like LumiChats gives you GPT-5.4 Mini, MAI-Thinking-1 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, GPT-5.4 Mini or MAI-Thinking-1?
MAI-Thinking-1 — released June 2, 2026, about 3 months after GPT-5.4 Mini.
Specifications and benchmarks reflect publicly reported figures as of June 2026 and may change as providers release updates. Always verify on your own workload.