DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B vs GPT-4.1 mini vs QwQ Plus
GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 66 to 54 and 48 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
DeepSeekDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B
48/100- ECI137.4
- Price—
- Context131K
- Our pick
OpenAIGPT-4.1 mini
66/100- ECI135.0
- Price$0.40 / $1.60
- Context1.05M
Alibaba (Qwen)QwQ Plus
54/100- ECI—
- Price$0.80 / $2.40
- Context131K
GPT-4.1 mini is our pick
GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against QwQ Plus (54) and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (48). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.
- CapabilityGPT-4.1 miniShared benchmarks: GPT-4.1 mini 65.9% · QwQ Plus 65.4% · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 64.1%
- Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · QwQ Plus $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend) · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B unpriced
- Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 131,072 · QwQ Plus 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B: Text · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · QwQ Plus: Text
- Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B | GPT-4.1 mini | QwQ Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityShared benchmarks | 67% | 64 | 66 | 65 |
| Inputs & features | 20% | 10 | 70 | 35 |
| Context window | 13% | 24 | 61 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 48/100 | 66/100 | 54/100 |
Left out because at least one model lacks the data: price. The remaining weights were rescaled.
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BDeepSeek | GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI | QwQ PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 137.4 (best) | 135.0 | — |
| ECI rank | #110 of 148 (best) | #115 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 64.1% | 65.9% (best) | 65.4% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | 6.7% | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 55.6% (best) | 44.7% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | 12.7% | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | — | $0.40 (best) | $0.80 |
| Output | — | $1.60 (best) | $2.40 |
| Cached input | — | $0.10 | — |
| Blended (3:1) | — | $0.70 (best) | $1.20 |
| Long-context rate | — | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | — | Official OpenAI API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 1,047,576 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | No |
| PDFs | No | Yes | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | No | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | gpt-4.1-mini | qwq-plus |
| API providers | — | 24 (best) | 2 |
| Released | Jan 20, 2025 | Apr 14, 2025 | Mar 5, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Apr 2024 | Apr 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B—
- GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
- QwQ Plus$12.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B, GPT-4.1 mini or QwQ Plus?
GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against QwQ Plus (54) and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (48). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.
Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B, GPT-4.1 mini or QwQ Plus?
GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). QwQ Plus costs $0.80 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.70 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 mini versus $1.20 for QwQ Plus (1.7× as much). DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B has no published per-token price.
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, QwQ Plus 65.4% and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 64.1%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, QwQ Plus 65.4%, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 64.1%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B, GPT-4.1 mini and QwQ Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4.1 mini leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Note that DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B and 131,072 for QwQ Plus. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B up to 32,768, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, QwQ Plus up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B accepts text; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; QwQ Plus accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini and QwQ Plus is proprietary.
Which is newer?
GPT-4.1 mini is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. QwQ Plus came out Mar 5, 2025; DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, QwQ Plus Apr 2024.
How do you decide the winner?
Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Oct 4, 2026.
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