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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3 235B-A22B

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 60 to 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B

  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 60/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 235B-A22BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Qwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniQwen3 235B-A22B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5965
Price25%5746
Inputs & features15%7035
Context window10%6124
Overall100%60/10051/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3 235B-A22B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIQwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0139.4 (best)
ECI rank#115 of 148#103 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9%70.7% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.70
Output$1.60 (best)$2.80
Cached input$0.10—
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$1.23
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1-miniqwen3-235b-a22b
API providers24 (best)7
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Apr 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Apr 2025
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.

  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
  • Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini or Qwen3 235B-A22B?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B (51). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. Qwen3 235B-A22B wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini or Qwen3 235B-A22B?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen3 235B-A22B 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 $1.23 for Qwen3 235B-A22B (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 235B-A22B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (135.2–140.8 vs 131.2–136.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 235B-A22B 70.7%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini and Qwen3 235B-A22B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 235B-A22B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. Both 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 Qwen3 235B-A22B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 235B-A22B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 235B-A22B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025.

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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