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Head-to-head comparison

Llama Guard 4 12B vs GPT-4o-mini

Llama Guard 4 12B (Meta) and GPT-4o-mini (OpenAI) compared on the ModelCap Index, API price, context window, provider availability, weight access and every public benchmark board they share. Figures are the same ones shown on the live rankings; nothing here is a hidden score.

Snapshot as of 18 August 2026

As of 18 August 2026, GPT-4o-mini holds the stronger ModelCap Index position (#217 vs #230); Llama Guard 4 12B is 3.3× cheaper per output token ($0.18/1M vs $0.60/1M); and Llama Guard 4 12B offers the longer context window (1M vs 128K tokens).

Which should you choose?

Choose Llama Guard 4 12B if…

  • API cost matters — $0.18/1M output tokens against $0.60/1M, about 3.3× cheaper.
  • you need the longer context window — 1M tokens against 128K.
  • you want the more recently listed model — Llama Guard 4 12B was listed 30 April 2025, GPT-4o-mini 18 July 2024.

Choose GPT-4o-mini if…

  • you want the stronger overall ModelCap Index position — #217 against #230 (1.1 vs 0.0 points).
  • your workload is prompt-heavy — input tokens cost $0.15/1M against $0.18/1M.

Llama Guard 4 12B vs GPT-4o-mini: specs, pricing and context

Specification comparison of Llama Guard 4 12B and GPT-4o-mini
FieldLlama Guard 4 12BMetaGPT-4o-miniOpenAI
ModelCap Index position#230#217
Index score0.01.1
EvidenceEstimatedMeasured
Input price / 1M tokens$0.18$0.15
Output price / 1M tokens$0.18$0.60
Context window1M tokens128K tokens
Max output tokens16K16K
API providers listed22
Weight accessGated accessAPI only
Input modalitiesImage, TextText, Image, File
First listed30 April 202518 July 2024
PublisherMetaOpenAI

Evidence: publisher corpus prior · leave-one-anchor-out calibrated · 2 public benchmark observations across 2 boards. Prices are the lowest listed API offer per million tokens observed on the OpenRouter catalogue.

Benchmark scores: Llama Guard 4 12B vs GPT-4o-mini

Public benchmark boards where Llama Guard 4 12B or GPT-4o-mini has a published result
BoardLlama Guard 4 12BGPT-4o-miniLeads
ARC-AGI-2ARC Prize Foundation—0.0%Only one result
Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexArtificial Analysis—6.7intelligence-indexOnly one result

Scores are the sources' own published figures for each model's best evaluated configuration; ModelCap never re-runs a benchmark.

Want a different pairing? Open the interactive comparison tool to swap either model for any current ranked language model.

Llama Guard 4 12B vs GPT-4o-mini: common questions

Is Llama Guard 4 12B better than GPT-4o-mini?

GPT-4o-mini ranks higher on the ModelCap Index as of 18 August 2026: #217 against #230. That is a capability ranking built from public benchmark evidence with published uncertainty; whether it is "better" for you also depends on price, context and where you can run it.

Is Llama Guard 4 12B cheaper than GPT-4o-mini?

Llama Guard 4 12B is cheaper on output tokens: $0.18/1M against $0.60/1M. Input tokens are $0.18/1M for Llama Guard 4 12B and $0.15/1M for GPT-4o-mini. Prices are the lowest listed API offer ModelCap observed, in USD per million tokens.

Which has the bigger context window, Llama Guard 4 12B or GPT-4o-mini?

Llama Guard 4 12B has the larger context window: 1M tokens against 128K.

Which is better for coding, Llama Guard 4 12B or GPT-4o-mini?

The two models do not share a coding benchmark board on ModelCap yet, so no head-to-head coding score is published; the ModelCap Index position is the closest overall signal.

Are Llama Guard 4 12B and GPT-4o-mini open-weight models?

Llama Guard 4 12B: Gated access. GPT-4o-mini: API only. Open weights mean the checkpoint can be downloaded and self-hosted under its licence; API-only models are available solely through hosted endpoints.

Where can I run Llama Guard 4 12B and GPT-4o-mini?

ModelCap currently lists 2 API providers for Llama Guard 4 12B and 2 for GPT-4o-mini, from the OpenRouter catalogue snapshot the site serves; each model page lists the providers and their prices.

How current is this Llama Guard 4 12B vs GPT-4o-mini comparison?

Every figure comes from the sealed ModelCap dataset published 18 August 2026; the page re-renders within a minute of each data refresh, and the ModelCap Index positions are the same ones shown on the live rankings.

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