GPT-4.1 mini vs Mistral Medium 3 vs QwQ Plus
GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 64 to 53 and 52 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
OpenAIGPT-4.1 mini
64/100- ECI135.0
- Price$0.40 / $1.60
- Context1.05M
Mistral AIMistral Medium 3
53/100- ECI134.1
- Price$0.40 / $2.00
- Context131K
Alibaba (Qwen)QwQ Plus
52/100- 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 64/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53) and QwQ Plus (52). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. 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% · Mistral Medium 3 59.5%
- Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 · QwQ Plus $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 · QwQ Plus 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images · QwQ Plus: Text
- Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | GPT-4.1 mini | Mistral Medium 3 | QwQ Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityShared benchmarks | 50% | 66 | 60 | 65 |
| Price | 25% | 57 | 54 | 46 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 70 | 50 | 35 |
| Context window | 10% | 61 | 24 | 24 |
| Overall | 100% | 64/100 | 53/100 | 52/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI | Mistral Medium 3Mistral AI | QwQ PlusAlibaba (Qwen) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 135.0 (best) | 134.1 | — |
| ECI rank | #115 of 148 (best) | #117 of 148 | — |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 65.9% (best) | 59.5% | 65.4% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 6.7% | — | — |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 44.7% (best) | 32.2% | — |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 12.7% | — | — |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.40 (best) | $0.40 (best) | $0.80 |
| Output | $1.60 (best) | $2.00 | $2.40 |
| Cached input | $0.10 | — | — |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.70 (best) | $0.80 | $1.20 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official OpenAI API | Official Mistral API | Official Alibaba API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 1,047,576 tokens (best) | 131,072 tokens | 131,072 tokens |
| Max output | 32,768 tokens | 131,072 tokens (best) | 8,192 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes | No |
| PDFs | Yes | No | No |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | No | No | Yes |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | No | No |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | gpt-4.1-mini | mistral-medium-2505 | qwq-plus |
| API providers | 24 (best) | 5 | 2 |
| Released | Apr 14, 2025 | May 7, 2025 | Mar 5, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | May 2025 | 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.
- GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
- Mistral Medium 3$8.00
- QwQ Plus$12.80
Which should you choose?
Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 or QwQ Plus?
GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53) and QwQ Plus (52). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.
Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 or QwQ Plus?
GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral 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 $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (1.1× as much) and $1.20 for QwQ Plus (1.7× as much).
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 Mistral Medium 3 59.5%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, QwQ Plus 65.4%, Mistral Medium 3 59.5%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 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. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.
Which has the bigger context window?
GPT-4.1 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3 and 131,072 for QwQ Plus. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072, QwQ Plus up to 8,192 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Mistral Medium 3 accepts text and images; QwQ Plus accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. GPT-4.1 mini, Mistral Medium 3 and QwQ Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
Mistral Medium 3 is the newest, released May 7, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; QwQ Plus came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Mistral Medium 3 May 2025, 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.
Related comparisons
- GPT-4.1 mini vs QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 137.6
- GPT-4.1 mini vs DeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek · ECI 135.9
- GPT-4.1 mini vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta · ECI 132.2
- Mistral Medium 3 vs QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen) · ECI 137.6
- Mistral Medium 3 vs Llama 4 Maverick 17B InstructMeta · ECI 132.2
- Mistral Medium 3 vs DeepSeek V3 0324DeepSeek · ECI 135.9
