DeepSeek-R1 vs GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3 32B

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against DeepSeek-R1 (51) and Qwen3 32B (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). DeepSeek-R1 costs $0.70 input / $2.60 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers); Qwen3 32B costs $0.70 input / $2.80 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 $1.18 for DeepSeek-R1 (1.7× as much) and $1.23 for Qwen3 32B (1.8× as much).

DeepSeek-R1 scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): DeepSeek-R1 139.0 (#104 of 148), Qwen3 32B 138.5 (#106 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (136.2–140.4 vs 135.1–140.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — DeepSeek-R1 71.7%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, Qwen3 32B 65.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 32B 66.9%, DeepSeek-R1 53.3%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek-R1, GPT-4.1 mini and Qwen3 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, DeepSeek-R1 leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 32B and 128,000 for DeepSeek-R1. Maximum output per response: DeepSeek-R1 up to 32,768, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3 32B up to 16,384 tokens.

DeepSeek-R1 accepts text; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 32B accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

DeepSeek-R1 and Qwen3 32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Qwen3 32B is the newest, released Apr 29, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; DeepSeek-R1 came out Jan 20, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: DeepSeek-R1 Jul 2024, GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Qwen3 32B Apr 2025.

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.