Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs GPT-4o-mini Search Preview (Comparative Analysis)
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Comparative Analysis: Claude Sonnet 4.6 vs. GPT-4o-mini Search Preview
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Overview
GPT-4o-mini Search Preview was released 11 months before Claude Sonnet 4.6.
 Claude Sonnet 4.6 |  GPT-4o-mini Search Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Model Provider The organization behind this AI's development | Anthropic | OpenAI |
Input Context Window Maximum input tokens this model can process at once | 1M tokens | 128K tokens |
Output Token Limit Maximum output tokens this model can generate at once | 128K tokens | 16.4K tokens |
Release Date When this model first became publicly available | February 17, 2026 5 months ago February 17th, 2026 | March 12, 2025 1 year ago March 12th, 2025 |
Knowledge Cutoff Latest training-data date reported by the provider | Not reported | October 31, 2023 |
Capabilities & Features
Compare supported features, modalities, and advanced capabilities
Claude Sonnet 4.6 | GPT-4o-mini Search Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Input Types Supported input formats | 📝Text🖼️Image📁File | 📝Text |
Reasoning Controls Defaults and configurable reasoning effort | OptionalEffort: Max, High, Medium, LowDefault: Medium | Not reported |
Output Types Supported output formats | 📝Text | 📝Text |
Tokenizer Text encoding system | Claude | GPT |
Key Features Advanced capabilities | ✓Function Calling✓Structured Output✓Reasoning Mode✓Content Moderation | Function Calling✓Structured OutputReasoning Mode✓Content Moderation |
Pricing
Claude Sonnet 4.6 is roughly 20.0x more expensive compared to GPT-4o-mini Search Preview for input tokens and roughly 25.0x more expensive for output tokens.
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | GPT-4o-mini Search Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Input Token Cost Cost per million input tokens | $3.00 per million tokens | $0.15 per million tokens |
Output Token Cost Cost per million output tokens | $15.00 per million tokens | $0.60 per million tokens |
Web Search Cost Additional cost for each web search operation | $0.01 per search | $0.0275 per search |
Cache Read Cost Cost to reuse cached input tokens | $0.30 per million tokens | Not specified |
Cache Write Cost Cost to write input tokens to the cache | $3.75 per million tokens | Not specified |
1-Hour Cache Write Cost Cost to cache input tokens for one hour | $6.00 per million tokens | Not specified |
Benchmarks
Compare relevant benchmarks between Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-4o-mini Search Preview.
| Claude Sonnet 4.6 | GPT-4o-mini Search Preview | |
|---|---|---|
Intelligence Index Overall model quality across independent evaluations | 47.2 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Coding Index Programming performance across independent evaluations | 63 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Agentic Index Ability to complete multi-step agentic tasks | 40.8 (Artificial Analysis index; higher is better) | Benchmark not available. |
Best Design Arena Score Highest human-preference Elo score across design arenas | 1,318 Elo (#6 in Website (61.3% win rate)) | Benchmark not available. |
At a Glance
Quick overview of what makes Claude Sonnet 4.6 and GPT-4o-mini Search Preview unique.
Claude Sonnet 4.6 by Anthropic understands both text and images, can use external tools and APIs, offers advanced reasoning, generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 1M token context window. Premium pricing at $3.00/M input and $15.00/M output tokens. Includes built-in content moderation for safer outputs. Released February 17th, 2026.GPT-4o-mini Search Preview by OpenAI generates structured data. It can handle standard conversations with its 128K token context window. Very affordable at $0.15/M input and $0.60/M output tokens. Includes built-in content moderation for safer outputs. Released March 12th, 2025.Explore More Comparisons
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Compare GPT-4o-mini Search Preview with:
🚀Programming
Best models for coding and development
🎨Creative & Roleplay
Models optimized for creative writing
📢Marketing
Content creation and marketing tasks
💻Technology
Technical analysis and explanations
🔬Science
Scientific research and analysis
🌐Translation
Multilingual translation tasks