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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B vs GPT-4.1 mini

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 61 to 47 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B

    Released Jan 20, 2025

    47/100
    • ECI137.4
    • Price—
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    61/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 mini is our pick

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%.

  • CapabilityDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BCapabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 137.4 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 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 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B: Text · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BGPT-4.1 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)67%6259
Inputs & features20%1070
Context window13%2461
Overall100%47/10061/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: price. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B vs GPT-4.1 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationDeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32BDeepSeekGPT-4.1 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)137.4 (best)135.0
ECI rank#110 of 148 (best)#115 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions64.1%65.9% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—6.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics55.6% (best)44.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—12.7%
Price per million tokens
Input—$0.40
Output—$1.60
Cached input—$0.10
Blended (3:1)—$0.70
Long-context rate—Same rate
Price source—Official OpenAI API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,047,576 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gpt-4.1-mini
API providers—24
ReleasedJan 20, 2025Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Apr 2024
03 — Cost

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
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 61/100 against DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B (47). It leads on inputs & features and context window. DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 67%, inputs & features 20%, context window 13%.

Which is cheaper, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B or GPT-4.1 mini?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI 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 . DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B has no published per-token price.

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 137.4 (#110 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.7–138.7 vs 131.2–136.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 64.1%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 55.6%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B and GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B 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. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B up to 32,768, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768 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. 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 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 mini is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen-32B came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini 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.

05 — Keep comparing

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