OpenAI launches GPT-4.1, a family of models for
developers
The three new models from OpenAI are optimized for coding, instruction following, and long-context processing.
OpenAI just released three new models to its API:
GPT-4.1,
GPT-4.1 mini, and
GPT-4.1 nano
These models are optimized for coding, so it's fair to think of them as answers to Anthropic's Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro:
OpenAI detailed the ways that GPT-4.1 outperforms GPT-4o in its announcement post. So instead of going into a 4.1-vs-4o analysis, I'll give a quick rundown of other details that matter for indie hackers:
How to use GPT-4.1 for free
First off, you can't use GPT-4.1 and its variants through the default ChatGPT app. The 4.1 model family is targeted at developers, so they're only available through OpenAI’s API.
The major AI code editors — Cursor, Windsurf, and Microsoft Copilot — are all offering temporary access to gpt 4.1 for free.
GPT-4.1 is cheaper than competitors
GPT-4.1 is more cost-effective than both Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Gemini 2.5 Pro.
Here's a per-token pricing comparison that also accounts for discounts different providers offer for caching:
Competitors beat GPT-4.1 in performance
This shouldn't be shocking given that the 4.1 models aren't reasoning models like Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Gemini 2.5 Pro.
But I don't make the rules:
OpenAI is marketing 4.1 as an AI model for developers, so we have no choice but to compare apples to oranges here:
This comparison chart is based on leading benchmarks like GPQA Diamond (reasoning), SWE-bench Verified (coding), AIME 2024 (math and science), and the MMMU (multimodal tasks).
Bye bye, GPT-4.5
OpenAI also announced that GPT-4.5 Preview will be deprecated on July 14, 2025, and that devs will have three months to transition to the new models:
I wrote something similar with my experience using ChatGPT5. OpenAI's updates are very interesting, there is so much value in understanding these updates and how to use them to your advantage. Thanks for sharing your experience.
If you want to read my opinions on GPT5 and my experience with it, here's my Indie Hackers article. I'd love to hear your thoughts:
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/why-gpt5-feels-like-a-stranger-3a0242ad63
GPT-4.1 is an exciting release better reasoning, faster performance, and stronger tool integration could change how developers approach complex projects. The real challenge, though, is moving from early testing to a stable, production-ready deployment. That transition often involves more than just coding it’s about architecture, optimization, and long-term maintainability.
I’ve noticed that teams who work with experienced AI development partners, like ValueCoders, tend to get there faster and with fewer pitfalls. It’s less about outsourcing and more about having extra hands that already know the common roadblocks and how to avoid them.
Interesting shift from OpenAI. As someone who helps tech and AI startups turn model specs and feature updates into clear, high-converting copy (landing pages, product updates, onboarding emails), I’m excited to see where GPT-4.1 fits into the dev ecosystem.
If your product is built around tools like 4.1, I’d love to help make the language as smart as the tech.
In just a matter on months, ChatGPT launched GPT5. I found this update interesting, so as a dev I needed to give it a go.
I wrote down all my thoughts and experiences using GPT5, so if you're interested give my article a read and steal my approach if you feel it might be helpful.
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/why-gpt5-feels-like-a-stranger-3a0242ad63
Why abandon GPT-4.5?
Probably because something else will be coming out soon enough..
Tested this; it is at least ~5% worse than DeepSeek R1 and ~10% worse than Sonet 3.7, and ~20% worse than Gemini 2.5 Pro.
really？ It is sad！
Today I upgraded from GPT-4o-mini to GPT-4.1-mini, and the improvement is noticeably significant, providing higher quality responses to the same questions as before.
Worth to try
Open Ai is training it self so fast its really fascinating. I do not know anything about coding but still i manage to build a code using AI and integrate it into my website
I am still facing some issue but hope so i will able to solve it.
With the launch of ChatGPT5, I wrote down my experience with it as well as a comparative to ChatGPT-4o. GPT-5 isn’t just a model update, it’s an orchestration overhaul.
Give it a read and let me know your thoughts on OpenAI's updates.
https://www.indiehackers.com/post/starting-up/openai-launches-gpt-4-1-a-family-of-models-for-developers-ljBIkTQtEbwUwqrGoobq
Saw this coming but still impressed with the achievement
This an exciting and complex time to be a live. I love this, we can learn to adopt to this AI lifestyle.
This is an exciting update! GPT-4.1 and its new variants sound like a big win for devs — especially those focused on coding-heavy tasks or building tools that need long-context handling. The fact that major code editors like Cursor and Copilot are offering free access is a great opportunity to test these models in real workflows. Curious to see how 4.1 stacks up against Claude 3.7 and Gemini 2.5 in real-world dev scenarios. Anyone here already tried them out?
In my own testing, these models are still lagging behind Sonnet and Gemini Pro. Still an improvement. I’ve been enjoying o3 for the SaaS business side, though.
Thanks for the article , i believe the part about ‘evaluating AI responses’ is crucial. Sometimes, AI can give an answer, but it doesn’t hit the mark because the prompt wasn’t refined. I’ve had similar challenges in my own projects, and I’ve found that iterating on the prompt and providing feedback to the model can yield much better results. Anyone else here using this strategy to improve outputs?"
I'm here because i'm looking for someone to wotk with, and I found an IA !!! I must prefere to find a guy who work with an IA lol
hey, even i am looking forward to work with someone and am interested to learn and work on IA , do let me know if you are interested
Hey Aahaan, thanks for reaching out! I’m also really excited about teaming up on an AI project. I’ve been tinkering with [mention any tools or frameworks you’ve used, e.g. TensorFlow/PyTorch/OpenAI’s API] and I’d love to hear what you’ve worked on so far. What areas are you most interested in exploring? Let’s connect and see if our skills complement each other!
I'm a big fan of GPT - 4.5
Will definitely try this on our new projects
This is wild - OpenAI is leveling up so fast! 🔥
From what I’ve seen, GPT-4.1’s latency is improved and it handles multi-step prompts a bit better than 4-turbo, but it still struggles with complex reasoning chains.