0 Reasons to stay in pro plan without o4-mini.

[swantom30]

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NO GPT-5 variant comes near par with o4-mini. Closest model is Grok Code Fast 1 which is in free tier. I can't believe this deprecation is finalized by copilot.

[MOHAMED-LAAGUILI]

I get your frustration — many users feel the same about the o4-mini model’s balance of speed, reasoning, and lightweight behavior. The current GPT-5 variants in Copilot may handle broader reasoning tasks better, but they can feel slower or less “code-tuned” than o4-mini.

If GitHub deprecates o4-mini permanently, the key reasons to stay on the Pro plan would mainly be:

Access to larger models (GPT-5-class) for deeper context and refactoring.

Priority performance and uptime.

Integration features like inline chat, pull request summaries, and documentation assistance not available in free tiers.

Still, your point is fair — if code-centric speed and focus were your priorities, o4-mini had a sweet spot. Hopefully GitHub adds a lightweight GPT-5-mini or “code-fast” variant again soon.