GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3.5 9B vs QwQ 32B

Qwen3.5 9B is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60) and QwQ 32B (53). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. GPT-4.1 mini wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Qwen3.5 9B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.15 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); QwQ 32B costs $0.66 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.113 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 9B versus $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (6.2× as much) and $0.745 for QwQ 32B (6.6× as much).

Qwen3.5 9B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 (#101 of 148), QwQ 32B 137.6 (#109 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (136.5–141.3 vs 133.1–141.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 9B 79.0%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, QwQ 32B 65.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.5 9B 61.7%, QwQ 32B 59.2%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, Qwen3.5 9B and QwQ 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.5 9B 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 262,144 for Qwen3.5 9B and 131,072 for QwQ 32B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3.5 9B up to 65,536, QwQ 32B up to 8,192 tokens.

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.5 9B accepts text, images and video; QwQ 32B accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Qwen3.5 9B and QwQ 32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Qwen3.5 9B is the newest, released Feb 23, 2026. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, QwQ 32B Apr 2024.

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.