Last updated: April 21, 2025 (Verified pricing data)
GPT-4o Pricing Structure: April 2025 Update
OpenAI’s GPT-4o model continues to serve as their primary multimodal AI offering in April 2025, though the recent release of GPT-4.1 has changed the landscape. This guide provides the most current pricing information for businesses and developers looking to use GPT-4o through various channels.
GPT-4o API Pricing Breakdown (April 2025)
The official OpenAI API pricing for GPT-4o as of April 2025:
| Usage Type | Cost per Million Tokens | Per Token Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Input (Prompt) Tokens | $5.00 | $0.000005 |
| Output (Completion) Tokens | $15.00 | $0.000015 |
| Image Input (per image) | $0.00286 | N/A |
| Image Generation (1024×1024) | N/A | $0.035 per image |
The context window for GPT-4o remains at 128K tokens, allowing for extensive document analysis and complex conversations in a single request.
GPT-4o vs. GPT-4.1: Pricing Comparison
With the launch of GPT-4.1 on April 14, 2025, developers now have more options to consider. Here’s how the pricing compares between GPT-4o and the new GPT-4.1 models:
| Model | Input Cost (per million tokens) | Output Cost (per million tokens) | Context Window |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-4o | $5.00 | $15.00 | 128K tokens |
| GPT-4.1 | $2.00 | $8.00 | 1M tokens |
| GPT-4.1 Mini | $0.40 | $1.60 | 1M tokens |
| GPT-4.1 Nano | $0.10 | $0.40 | 1M tokens |
Key differences to note:
- GPT-4.1 offers significantly lower pricing with a much larger context window (1M vs 128K)
- GPT-4o remains superior for multimodal tasks combining vision and language
- GPT-4.1 excels at coding tasks, scoring 54.6% on SWE-Bench Verified (compared to GPT-4o’s 43.2%)
- GPT-4.1 implements prompt caching, reducing costs for repeated inputs by up to 75%
Pro Tip:
If you’re primarily working with text-based tasks and long documents, GPT-4.1 likely offers better value. For multimodal applications combining vision and text, GPT-4o remains the recommended choice despite its higher cost.
ChatGPT Access to GPT-4o (April 2025)
Changes to GPT-4o access via ChatGPT as of April 2025:
- Free Tier: Limited to 10 GPT-4o conversations every 3 hours (reduced from 30 in March 2025)
- ChatGPT Plus: $20/month for unlimited GPT-4o usage
- Team Tier: $25/user/month with increased rate limits
- Enterprise: Custom pricing with dedicated capacity
On April 11, 2025, OpenAI announced plans to retire the older GPT-4 model from ChatGPT effective April 30, making GPT-4o the default model across all tiers. GPT-4 will continue to be available via API for backward compatibility.
Image Generation Pricing with GPT-4o
GPT-4o’s integrated image generation capabilities are priced as follows:
| Service | Price per Image |
|---|---|
| GPT-4o Image Generation (1024×1024) | $0.035 |
| DALL-E 3 Standalone API (1024×1024) | $0.040 |
The GPT-4o image generation API offers better value than the standalone DALL-E 3 API while providing similar quality. Additionally, GPT-4o can process images as input at a cost of approximately $0.00286 per image.
Cost-Effective Alternatives for GPT-4o Access
For budget-conscious developers and businesses, several options provide more affordable access to GPT-4o:
Option 1: Alternative API Providers
Services like laozhang.ai offer competitive pricing for GPT-4o and other OpenAI models:
- Up to 40% lower token costs compared to direct OpenAI pricing
- Free registration credits to test the service
- Consistent API interface compatible with OpenAI’s SDK
- Automatic fallback to alternative models during outages
curl https://api.laozhang.ai/v1/chat/completions \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $API_KEY" \
-d '{
"model": "gpt-4o-all",
"messages": [
{"role": "system", "content": "You are a helpful assistant."},
{"role": "user", "content": "How does prompt caching work?"}
]
}'Option 2: Optimize Token Usage
Implementing these strategies can significantly reduce your GPT-4o costs:
- Token Compression: Reduce token count by up to 30% using techniques like shortening responses and optimizing prompts
- Batching Requests: Combine multiple queries into single API calls to reduce overhead
- Response Caching: Store and reuse common responses to avoid repetitive API calls
- Length Constraints: Set maximum response lengths to prevent unnecessary output tokens
Important Note:
When transitioning from GPT-4 to GPT-4o, be aware that the token encoding differs slightly. This may result in the same text using a different number of tokens between models.
Enterprise Pricing Considerations
For large-scale enterprise deployments, OpenAI offers:
- Volume Discounts: Custom pricing for high-volume users (typically starting at $5,000+ monthly spend)
- Dedicated Capacity: Reserved instances with guaranteed availability
- Enterprise Support: Priority assistance and implementation guidance
- Custom Rate Limits: Higher throughput for production applications
Enterprise customers should contact OpenAI directly for tailored pricing based on their specific usage patterns and requirements.
Conclusion: Making the Right Model Choice in April 2025
With the introduction of GPT-4.1, developers now face a choice between GPT-4o’s advanced multimodal capabilities and GPT-4.1’s larger context window and lower pricing. For most text-only applications, especially those involving long documents or code, GPT-4.1 likely offers better value. However, GPT-4o remains the superior choice for applications requiring image understanding or generation.
For cost-sensitive deployments, consider using API management services like laozhang.ai to access GPT-4o at reduced rates while maintaining compatibility with OpenAI’s API interface.
For personalized assistance with API integration, contact: WeChat: ghj930213
