ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3.5 9B

Qwen3.5 9B comes out ahead, 72 to 60 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. 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. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 9B

    Released Feb 23, 2026

    72/100
    • ECI139.5
    • Price$0.10 / $0.15
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 9B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.5 9B is our pick

Qwen3.5 9B is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). 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%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.5 9BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceQwen3.5 9BQwen3.5 9B $0.113 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3.5 9B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.5 9B: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 9BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniQwen3.5 9B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5965
Price25%5795
Inputs & features15%7080
Context window10%6137
Overall100%60/10072/100
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 Qwen3.5 9B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIQwen3.5 9BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0139.5 (best)
ECI rank#115 of 148#101 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9%79.0% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7%61.7% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.10 (best)
Output$1.60$0.15 (best)
Cached input$0.10—
Blended (3:1)$0.70$0.113 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 14 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1-mini—
API providers24 (best)15
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Feb 23, 2026
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
  • Qwen3.5 9B$1.30
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini or Qwen3.5 9B?

Qwen3.5 9B is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). 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%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini or Qwen3.5 9B?

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). 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).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.5 9B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 (#101 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 131.2–136.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 9B 79.0%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.5 9B 61.7%, 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 Qwen3.5 9B 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. 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 262,144 for Qwen3.5 9B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3.5 9B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3.5 9B accepts text, images and video. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

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

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 9B is the newest, released Feb 23, 2026. 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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