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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3 30B A3B

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 mini 59, Qwen3 30B A3B 57). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    59/100
    • ECI134.9
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 30B A3B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI136.2
    • Price$0.108 / $0.475
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 30B A3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-4.1 mini 59/100, Qwen3 30B A3B 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 30B A3B for raw capability and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 30B A3BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 30B A3B 136.2 · GPT-4.1 mini 134.9
  • Lowest priceQwen3 30B A3BQwen3 30B A3B $0.20 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3 30B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 30B A3B: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 30B A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniQwen3 30B A3B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5859
Price25%5580
Inputs & features15%7035
Context window10%6125
Overall100%59/10057/100
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 30B A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIQwen3 30B A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)134.9136.2 (best)
ECI rank#129 of 165#126 of 165 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9% (best)61.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7%62.8% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.108 (best)
Output$1.60$0.475 (best)
Cached input$0.10—
Blended (3:1)$0.70$0.20 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 14 providers
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-mini—
API providers28 (best)14
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Apr 28, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 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.

  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
  • Qwen3 30B A3B$2.03
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini or Qwen3 30B A3B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-4.1 mini 59/100, Qwen3 30B A3B 57/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 30B A3B for raw capability and GPT-4.1 mini for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini or Qwen3 30B A3B?

Qwen3 30B A3B is cheaper at $0.108 input / $0.475 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). GPT-4.1 mini costs $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 $0.20 per million tokens for Qwen3 30B A3B versus $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (3.5× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 30B A3B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 30B A3B 136.2 (#126 of 165) and GPT-4.1 mini 134.9 (#129 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (130.8–138.5 vs 131.1–136.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, Qwen3 30B A3B 61.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3 30B A3B 62.8%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini and Qwen3 30B A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 30B A3B 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 30B A3B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3 30B A3B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 30B A3B accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 30B A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 30B A3B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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