o3-mini
Product status: Active
OpenAI's model documentation marks o3-mini deprecated, and its API deprecation schedule sets removal of o3-mini-2025-01-31 and the o3-mini alias for 2026-10-23, after this review date. active here only describes the documented API offering before that scheduled shutdown, not verified account access, a recommendation for new deployments or the current ChatGPT model selector. Review migration before the deadline; do not treat the scheduled date as an already completed shutdown. The recorded source describes this product as active. Availability can change; check the linked source before choosing it.
- Hosted service:
- Recorded as active
Status source checked: · Status source
OpenAI's deprecated text reasoning API model; o3-mini and its 2025-01-31 snapshot are scheduled to shut down on 2026-10-23.
Product preview
Decision notes
Official-document research
Based on the cited documentation. We did not use the product, purchase a plan, or run quality, speed or reliability tests in this review.
Consider it for
- Maintainers planning migration before the announced deadline
- Readers checking the legacy model's exact interfaces
Choose another approach if
- New systems needing a long support window
- Vision, audio, video or fine-tuning requirements
Pricing and conditions
Documented terms
The model documentation displays $1.10 input, $0.55 cached input and $4.40 output per 1 million text tokens. These are its displayed API rates, not a ChatGPT subscription or a Batch-discount quote; the current general pricing page did not expose an o3-mini row. The source uses a dollar sign; ISO currency code, taxes, regional billing, invoice cycle and any promotion were not separately confirmed. Free API access is marked unsupported. Availability is subject to the 2026-10-23 shutdown schedule.
Pricing source read:
Pricing or terms sourceCode, model and service licensing
This is hosted API access; the reviewed model documents do not grant downloadable weights or self-hosting rights. API data is not used for training by default unless the customer opts in. That is not zero retention: abuse logs are normally kept up to 30 days with legal/protective exceptions, and application-state rules depend on the endpoint. Confirm the service agreement, output rights and actual project settings before sending restricted data.
Basis and limits of the recorded score
The previous 4.6/5 editorial score is retained without recalculation. No original scoring worksheet or hands-on comparison was established. Documentation about interfaces, prices and deprecation does not validate that score or quality/speed rankings.
Overview
o3-mini is an OpenAI text reasoning API model, with the dated snapshot o3-mini-2025-01-31. The model documentation records a 200,000-token context, a maximum of 100,000 output tokens, function calling and structured outputs. Image, audio and video are unsupported, as is fine-tuning. These are documented interfaces and limits, not a comparison of quality or speed with o3, o1-mini or other models.
As of this review on October 15, 2026, it is deprecated: OpenAI's deprecation table schedules both the snapshot and o3-mini alias to shut down on October 23, 2026. That date is still ahead of the review date. Existing users should inventory dependencies and validate a supported replacement before the deadline. The notice recommends gpt-5.6-sol, but this review did not test that model, rewrite prompts or establish compatibility.
The useful decision is whether a short remaining support window is acceptable for an existing integration. New production systems should choose a supported model with a suitable lifecycle. Check account access, billed reasoning/output usage and data handling separately; a ChatGPT plan or a headline per-token rate does not establish free API access or a complete workload cost.
Sources
The factual claims in this review were read from the pages below. Each date is when an editor last opened the source, not when the product changed.
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor pricing page Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Documented structured-output and function interfaces
- Dated snapshot and shutdown schedule are explicit
Cons
- Shutdown scheduled for 2026-10-23
- Text-only; no fine-tuning support
- 2023-10-01 knowledge cutoff needs external context for newer facts
Who it's for
Inventorying an existing o3-mini integration
Preparing schema and tool cases for a replacement
Interpreting earlier token-cost records
Bottom line
As of 2026-10-15, o3-mini is deprecated with shutdown scheduled for 2026-10-23. Prioritize migration of existing integrations and use a supported model for new projects.
Key Features
Tags
Compare o3-mini with alternatives
Frequently asked questions
Is o3-mini currently available?
OpenAI's model documentation marks o3-mini deprecated, and its API deprecation schedule sets removal of o3-mini-2025-01-31 and the o3-mini alias for 2026-10-23, after this review date. active here only describes the documented API offering before that scheduled shutdown, not verified account access, a recommendation for new deployments or the current ChatGPT model selector. Review migration before the deadline; do not treat the scheduled date as an already completed shutdown. The recorded source describes this product as active. Availability can change; check the linked source before choosing it.
What is o3-mini?
o3-mini is a Conversational AI tool developed by OpenAI. OpenAI's deprecated text reasoning API model; o3-mini and its 2025-01-31 snapshot are scheduled to shut down on 2026-10-23.
What costs and terms should I check for o3-mini?
The model documentation displays $1.10 input, $0.55 cached input and $4.40 output per 1 million text tokens. These are its displayed API rates, not a ChatGPT subscription or a Batch-discount quote; the current general pricing page did not expose an o3-mini row. The source uses a dollar sign; ISO currency code, taxes, regional billing, invoice cycle and any promotion were not separately confirmed. Free API access is marked unsupported. Availability is subject to the 2026-10-23 shutdown schedule.
Is o3-mini open source?
This is hosted API access; the reviewed model documents do not grant downloadable weights or self-hosting rights. API data is not used for training by default unless the customer opts in. That is not zero retention: abuse logs are normally kept up to 30 days with legal/protective exceptions, and application-state rules depend on the endpoint. Confirm the service agreement, output rights and actual project settings before sending restricted data.
What are the best alternatives to o3-mini?
Notable Conversational AI alternatives include ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. Browse all 67 tools in our Conversational AI category for a full overview.
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Basic Info
- Pricing
- Pay-as-you-go
The model documentation displays $1.10 input, $0.55 cached input and $4.40 output per 1 million text tokens. These are its displayed API rates, not a ChatGPT subscription or a Batch-discount quote; the current general pricing page did not expose an o3-mini row. The source uses a dollar sign; ISO currency code, taxes, regional billing, invoice cycle and any promotion were not separately confirmed. Free API access is marked unsupported. Availability is subject to the 2026-10-23 shutdown schedule.
- Editorial score
- ★ 4.6 / 5 How we score
- Platforms
- API
- Last verified
- 2026-10-12
