Comprehensive side-by-side LLM comparison
. Both models have their strengths depending on your specific coding needs.
OpenAI
GPT-4.1 mini, released by OpenAI in April 2025, is a smaller variant from the GPT-4.1 family designed for efficient, cost-effective deployments requiring long-context understanding. It features a 1M token context window and native image understanding, with maintained coding and instruction-following capabilities relative to its size. GPT-4.1 mini targets applications needing a balance between response speed, cost, and capability, such as production APIs with high request volumes.
OpenAI
GPT-5.1 Instant, released by OpenAI in November 2025, is a low-latency variant from the GPT-5.1 family optimized for fast response times and high-throughput workloads. It targets real-time applications, conversational assistants, and production APIs where response speed is a primary requirement alongside GPT-5.1-generation reasoning quality.
6 months newer

GPT-4.1 mini
OpenAI
2025-04-14

GPT-5.1 Instant
OpenAI
2025-11
Context window and performance specifications
Available providers and their performance metrics
GPT-4.1 mini
OpenAI
GPT-5.1 Instant
GPT-4.1 mini
GPT-5.1 Instant
GPT-4.1 mini
GPT-5.1 Instant