API cost decision in 10 seconds

GPT-5.4 Mini vs R1 0528

Pick R1 0528 for lower cost; pick GPT-5.4 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

Page updated: 2026-05-26T15:08:08Z Data confirmed: 2026-05-26T18:08:02Z Prices normalized to USD per 1M tokens Sample workload: 1M input + 500K output

Budget verdict

Pick R1 0528 for lower cost; pick GPT-5.4 Mini only if the larger context window matters more.

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, R1 0528 is estimated at $1.57 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $1.43 (47.5% lower).

Cost-first pickR1 0528

Context-first pickGPT-5.4 Mini

Sample savings$1.4347.5%

10x traffic gap$14.25

GPT-5.4 Mini has more context, but R1 0528 saves $1.43 on the standard workload. At 10x that traffic, the same price gap is about $14.25. Use the calculator below to replace the sample workload with your own token volume.

Cost sensitivity

Workload Sensitivity

Same prices, different token mixes.

R1 0528 stays cheaper across input-heavy, balanced, and output-heavy sample workloads.

Workload shape	Token mix	Better pick	GPT-5.4 Mini	R1 0528
Input-heavy / RAG	5M input + 500K output	R1 0528	$6	$3.58
Balanced workload	1M input + 1M output	R1 0528	$5.25	$2.65
Output-heavy chatbot	1M input + 5M output	R1 0528	$23.25	$11.25

Cheaper input R1 0528 $0.75 vs $0.5 / 1M

R1 0528 is $0.25 cheaper per 1M input tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).

Cheaper output R1 0528 $4.5 vs $2.15 / 1M

R1 0528 is $2.35 cheaper per 1M output tokens (52.2% lower; 2.09x difference).

Larger context GPT-5.4 Mini 400K vs 163.84K

GPT-5.4 Mini has 236.16K more context (2.44x larger).

Sample workload R1 0528 $3 vs $1.57

R1 0528 is $1.43 cheaper on the standard workload (47.5% lower).

Estimate your workload cost

Your Workload Cost

Prices are normalized to USD per 1M tokens.

Monthly input tokens Monthly output tokens

GPT-5.4 Mini Calculating… Estimated API cost

R1 0528 Calculating… Estimated API cost

Cheaper for this workload Calculating… Difference: calculating…

This estimate uses normalized public API pricing per 1M tokens. It is a planning aid, not a billing quote. Verify provider pricing, limits, and terms before production use.

Quick Decision

Verdict

R1 0528 has the lower input price; R1 0528 has the lower output price; GPT-5.4 Mini offers the larger context window. For the 1M input plus 500K output sample, R1 0528 is cheaper for the standard workload.

For a 1M input token plus 500K output token workload, the estimated API cost is $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini and $1.57 for R1 0528.

Best Fit

Choose GPT-5.4 Mini when you care most about larger context window.

Choose R1 0528 when you care most about lower input-token price, and lower output-token price.

Decision Notes

On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, R1 0528 is estimated at $1.57 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $1.43 (47.5% lower).
R1 0528 is $1.43 cheaper on the standard workload (47.5% lower).
R1 0528 is $0.25 cheaper per 1M input tokens (33.3% lower; 1.5x difference).
R1 0528 is $2.35 cheaper per 1M output tokens (52.2% lower; 2.09x difference).
GPT-5.4 Mini has 236.16K more context (2.44x larger).

Head-to-Head Specs

Feature	GPT-5.4 Mini (OpenAI)	R1 0528 (DeepSeek)
Input Price prompt tokens per 1M	$0.75	$0.5
Completion Price per 1M tokens	$4.5	$2.15
Sample Workload Cost 1M input + 500K output	$3	$1.57
Context Window	400K	163.84K
Release Date	2026-03-17	2025-05-28
Popularity	#31	#106

Use-Case Decision Matrix

Use case	Better pick	Why
Budget-constrained production	R1 0528	On the standard 1M input plus 500K output workload, R1 0528 is estimated at $1.57 vs $3 for GPT-5.4 Mini, saving $1.43 (47.5% lower).
High-volume input processing	R1 0528	Lower prompt-token price matters most when prompts, retrieved passages, or documents dominate the bill.
Long responses and chatbots	R1 0528	Lower output-token price matters most when assistants generate many completion tokens.
RAG or long-document work	GPT-5.4 Mini	A larger context window leaves more room for retrieved passages, conversation history, or source files.

Related Alternatives

Same-provider lower-cost swaps

gpt-oss-120b (free) can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b (free) can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.
gpt-oss-20b can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.1.
gpt-oss-120b can replace GPT-5.4 Mini when lower sample workload cost matters most: $0.13.

Larger context near this budget

Llama 4 Scout offers 10M context with $0.23 sample workload cost.
Grok 4.20 offers 2M context with $2.5 sample workload cost.
Owl Alpha offers 1.05M context with $0 sample workload cost.
DeepSeek V4 Flash offers 1.05M context with $0.2 sample workload cost.

Popular competitors

DeepSeek V4 Flash · DeepSeek · #1
Hy3 preview · Tencent · #2
Claude Opus 4.7 · Anthropic · #3
Claude Sonnet 4.6 · Anthropic · #4

Cheaper alternatives

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Larger context alternatives

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Provider catalogs

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OpenAI catalog

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DeepSeek catalog

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GPT-5.4 Mini

GPT-5.4 mini brings the core capabilities of GPT-5.4 to a faster, more efficient model optimized for high-throughput workloads. It supports text and image inputs with strong performance across reasoning, coding,...

R1 0528

May 28th update to the [original DeepSeek R1](/deepseek/deepseek-r1) Performance on par with [OpenAI o1](/openai/o1), but open-sourced and with fully open reasoning tokens. It's 671B parameters in size, with 37B active...