GPT-4.1 Now Available to Everyone! What's Changed?

OpenAI has finally released GPT-4.1, previously available only to developers, to general users. Starting May 15, 2025, paid ChatGPT users can directly experience the latest AI model. Let's explore what this change means for us and how it differs from the existing GPT-4o.

Journey from Developer-Exclusive to Public Access

Phased Release Process

GPT-4.1's release was conducted carefully and strategically.

On April 15, 2025, OpenAI first released the API version for developers. This allowed companies and developers to integrate GPT-4.1 into their services. A month later, on May 15, general ChatGPT users could finally access this cutting-edge AI.

What's particularly interesting is that the GPT-4.1 series is available in three versions:

• GPT-4.1 (Full version): The highest performance model, available to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users
• GPT-4.1 mini: A lightweight version available to all ChatGPT users
• GPT-4.1 nano: The fastest and most efficient ultra-lightweight version (API only)

How General Users Can Access It

If you have a ChatGPT Plus or higher paid plan, you can now directly select GPT-4.1 from the model selection dropdown menu. Free users can also use GPT-4.1 mini with limitations, and the system automatically switches to GPT-4.1 mini when GPT-4o usage limits are exceeded.

Revolutionary Performance Improvements in GPT-4.1

Significantly Enhanced Coding Capabilities

The most notable improvement in GPT-4.1 is its coding ability. In the SWE-bench Verified test, which evaluates real software engineering problems:

• GPT-4o: 33.2% accuracy
• GPT-4.1: 54.6% accuracy (a remarkable 21.4 percentage point improvement!)

This represents a breakthrough in complex code writing, debugging, and understanding large-scale projects. In fact, GPT-4.1 showed an overwhelming 80% dominance in front-end development evaluations.

Extended Context Processing Capability

Another strength of GPT-4.1 is its amazing context processing ability:

• GPT-4o: Maximum 128,000 tokens (approximately 100,000 words)
• GPT-4.1: Maximum 1 million tokens (approximately 750,000 words)

This is equivalent to inputting and analyzing an entire book at once. It's particularly useful when dealing with long contracts, research papers, or large codebases.

Improved Instruction Following

The ability to accurately follow complex instructions has also greatly improved. In the Scale MultiChallenge test:

• GPT-4o: 27.8%
• GPT-4.1: 38.3% (10.5 percentage point improvement)

This means it can more accurately handle detailed format requirements, sequence specifications, conditional execution, and more.

GPT-4o vs GPT-4.1: Which Should You Choose?

Performance Comparison at a Glance

Feature	GPT-4o	GPT-4.1
Release Date	May 2024	April 2025
Key Strengths	Multimodal (text, voice, image)	Coding, long text processing, precision work
Context Length	128K tokens	1M tokens
Coding Performance	Average	Excellent
Voice Support	Real-time support	Not supported
Image Generation	Supported	Not supported
Response Speed	Standard	Up to 40% faster
Cost	Standard	About 26% cheaper

Recommendations by Use Case

Considering each model's characteristics, here are recommendations by purpose:

Choose GPT-4o when:

• You need real-time voice conversation
• Image generation or multimodal interaction is important
• You want everyday conversation or creative writing

Choose GPT-4.1 when:

• Performing coding or technical work
• Analyzing or processing long documents
• Following complex instructions precisely
• Cost efficiency is important

Real User Experience Improvements

Faster and More Efficient Processing

GPT-4.1 boasts response speeds up to 40% faster than previous models. The mini and nano versions, in particular, have significantly lower latency, making them suitable for real-time applications.

Cost Reduction Benefits

Based on API usage, GPT-4.1 is on average 26% cheaper than GPT-4o:

• GPT-4.1: Input $2.00 / Output $8.00 (per million tokens)
• GPT-4.1 mini: Input $0.40 / Output $1.60
• GPT-4.1 nano: Input $0.10 / Output $0.40

This enables significant cost savings in large-scale projects.

Preparing for the Future

Opportunities for Developers and Businesses

GPT-4.1's release provides new opportunities especially for developers and businesses. Enhanced coding capabilities and long text processing abilities enable innovation in areas such as:

• Automated code review systems
• Large-scale document analysis tools
• Intelligent development assistants
• Complex business process automation

Benefits for General Users

General users can now experience a more accurate and faster AI assistant. They can particularly benefit from help with:

• Writing long reports or papers
• Complex data analysis
• Learning programming
• Reviewing detailed research materials

Conclusion: A New Chapter in AI Democratization

The public release of GPT-4.1 marks an important milestone in AI technology democratization. Cutting-edge technology that was previously developer-exclusive is now available to everyone.

Of course, GPT-4o's multimodal features and voice support remain strong advantages. However, GPT-4.1 shows a clear edge in coding, long text processing, and precision work. Most importantly, being faster and cheaper will be attractive to many users.

AI technology will continue to advance and become more accessible. The release of GPT-4.1 is just the beginning. We now live in an era where we can maximize creativity and productivity using more powerful and efficient AI tools.

If you have a ChatGPT Plus or higher plan, I recommend trying GPT-4.1 firsthand starting today. Especially if you work with coding or long documents, you'll definitely notice the difference.

 

https://reportingtrend.tistory.com/22

AI Model Benchmark Showdown 2025: GPT-4.1 vs Claude 3.7 vs Gemini 2.5 Pro vs Grok 3 and Beyond