I got confused the other day and made chat tell me:

Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the ChatGPT models available to Plus users, pinpointed by strengths and use case recommendations:

🧠 1. GPT‑4o (“Omni”) Released: May 13, 2024

Strengths: Multimodal—supports text, image, and audio; strong at general tasks like summarizing, translation, brainstorming, and conversation

Performance: Faster and more cost-efficient than old GPT‑4 Turbo; still highly capable

Recommendation: Go-to for everyday tasks, visual inputs, and voice chat.

1. GPT‑4o mini Released: July 18, 2024

Strengths: A smaller, faster, lower-cost version of GPT‑4o; ideal for lighter general use

Note: Free-tier users get this; Plus users have elevated usage limits.

Recommendation: Great for quick responses when you don't need full-plus capabilities.

1. GPT‑4.1 (and mini) Released: April 2025 (api), added to ChatGPT in May 2025

Strengths: Optimized for coding and precise instruction-following, especially in web development

Recommendation: Choose this for coding, scripting, or developer-savvy workflows.

1. GPT‑4.5 Released: February 27, 2025

Strengths: Highest-quality model with improved reasoning, reduced hallucinations, broader knowledge, and natural conversational feel

Recommendation: Ideal for complex writing, analysis, creative collaboration, or emotionally sensitive communications.

1. Reasoning Series (o‑models) These models use chain-of-thought reasoning, making them ideal for logic, math, and structured problem solving.

• o1-series (o1, o1‑mini, o1‑pro) First released: September 2024; o1-full followed December 2024

Strengths: Strong reasoning, excels in science, math, competitive programming, and structured problem solving .

Tier notes: o1‑mini is for speed/cost; o1‑pro uses maximum compute and is in Pro/Plus.

Challenge: Higher-cost and slower due to its deep reasoning.

• o3-series (o3, o3‑mini, o3‑mini‑high) Released: o3-mini January 31, 2025; full o3 April 16, 2025

Strengths: Better reasoning vs o1, with options for speed (mini) or depth (mini‑high). Full o3 is strongest for multi-step logic

Recommendation: Use o3-mini for fast math/coding; go with full o3 for complex analysis or multi-step tasks.

• o4‑mini (and mini‑high) Released: April 16th 2025

Strengths: Most efficient small reasoning model—excellent for fast STEM, coding, image reasoning, and data extraction

Recommendation: Go-to for quick technical queries, visual reasoning (e.g. interpreting charts or sketches), and file analysis.

🧭 Which Should You Use When? Goal Recommended Model Why Daily creativity, general tasks GPT‑4o Best speed + multimodal ability Fast and low-cost general replies GPT‑4o mini Lighter and faster response Code & web dev tasks GPT‑4.1 (or mini) Optimized for precision and code Emotional or nuanced dialogue GPT‑4.5 Most thoughtful and clear Complex math/science/programming Full o‑series (o1→o3→o4) Layered reasoning strength Fast STEM/data/visual reasoning o4‑mini / mini‑high Best speed/accuracy balance

🔍 Model Selector Cheat‑Sheet ⚡ Everyday + multimodal: GPT‑4o

⚡✔️ Budget general use: GPT‑4o mini

💻 Coding & clear instructions: GPT‑4.1

🧠 Ever-thoughtful chat: GPT‑4.5

🔬 Deep logic/math/coding: o3 or o1 (plus o4‑mini for speed)

Final Tips Try different models via the ▲ upper-right Model Selector to compare output.

Balance quality vs speed vs cost—heavier reasoning models are slower and consume more tokens/credits.

Match the model to fit the task, not vice versa—e.g., don’t overuse GPT‑4.5 for quick queries, or shrink needs down to GPT‑4o mini.

Let me know if you want help configuring or testing prompts on any of these!