Decision boundary
Do not start with which model is absolutely stronger. Start with the boundary: cost, context, speed, quality, ecosystem, or supply stability.
- o4-mini is worth checking first when the o-series family, 200K context, and text+image->text capability match the job.
- Claude Opus 4.1 is worth checking first when the Claude family, 200K context, and text+image->text capability match the job.