Gemini 3.1 Pro vs o4-mini
Gemini 3.1 Pro and o4-mini are both current production-tier models. o4-mini is meaningfully cheaper at $1.1 / $4.4 per 1M. Gemini 3.1 Pro has a 2M context window — about 10× the 200k of o4-mini. Gemini 3.1 Pro leads on general knowledge, long-context retrieval, multilingual.
Specs side by side
| Metric | Google Gemini 3.1 Pro | OpenAI o4-mini |
|---|---|---|
| Input price (per 1M) | $2 | $1.1 |
| Output price (per 1M) | $12 | $4.4 |
| Context window | 2M tokens | 200k tokens |
| Speed tier | balanced | slow |
| Open weights | No | No |
| EU region | Yes | Yes |
| Free tier | No | No |
| Prompt caching | Yes | Yes |
| Vision input | Yes | Yes |
| Extended thinking | Yes | Yes |
When to choose each
Choose Gemini 3.1 Pro if…
- You need 2M context (10× more than o4-mini)
- General knowledge is central to your workload
- Long-context retrieval is central to your workload
Choose o4-mini if…
- Cost is a priority ($1.1 / $4.4 per 1M vs $2 / $12 per 1M)
Benchmark delta
Gemini 3.1 Pro leads on
- General knowledge
- Long-context retrieval
- Multilingual
- Vision
o4-mini leads on
o4-mini has no meaningful benchmark lead in this pair.
FAQ — Gemini 3.1 Pro vs o4-mini
Gemini 3.1 Pro vs o4-mini — which is better?
Gemini 3.1 Pro and o4-mini are both current production-tier models. o4-mini is meaningfully cheaper at $1.1 / $4.4 per 1M. Gemini 3.1 Pro has a 2M context window — about 10× the 200k of o4-mini. Gemini 3.1 Pro leads on general knowledge, long-context retrieval, multilingual. The right pick depends on your use case — see "When to choose each" above for a data-driven decision.
How does Gemini 3.1 Pro pricing compare to o4-mini?
Gemini 3.1 Pro costs $2 / $12 per 1M vs o4-mini at $1.1 / $4.4 per 1M. o4-mini is cheaper on output tokens by roughly 173%. Both support prompt caching, which reduces effective cost by 80-90% on repeat system prompts.
Does Gemini 3.1 Pro or o4-mini have the bigger context window?
Gemini 3.1 Pro has a 2M-token context window — 10× the 200k context of o4-mini. Enough for entire codebases, books, or multi-document RAG.
Is there a free tier for Gemini 3.1 Pro or o4-mini?
Gemini 3.1 Pro: no — Paid-only since 2026-04-01 (previously had free tier via AI Studio). o4-mini: no — Paid-only.
Which is better for coding — Gemini 3.1 Pro or o4-mini?
Gemini 3.1 Pro leads on coding benchmarks (Gemini 3.1 Pro: 94/100, o4-mini: 92/100). For production coding agents also weigh tool-use performance — Gemini 3.1 Pro scores 91, o4-mini scores 88.