ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3.5 Plus

Qwen3.5 Plus comes out ahead, 66 to 60 on our weighted score, though GPT-4.1 mini is 22% cheaper per token.

  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 Plus

    Released Feb 16, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI146.8
    • Price$0.40 / $2.40
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 Plus

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.5 Plus is our pick

Qwen3.5 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). It leads on capability. GPT-4.1 mini wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.5 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Qwen3.5 Plus $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3.5 Plus 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3.5 Plus: Text, Images, Video
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniQwen3.5 Plus
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5974
Price25%5752
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6160
Overall100%60/10066/100
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 Plus specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIQwen3.5 PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0146.8 (best)
ECI rank#115 of 148#65 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9%84.9% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7%86.7% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%25.4% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.40
Output$1.60 (best)$2.40
Cached input$0.10—
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$0.90
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)1,000,000 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoYes
ReasoningNoYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-4.1-miniqwen3.5-plus
API providers24 (best)10
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Feb 16, 2026
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
  • Qwen3.5 Plus$8.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

Qwen3.5 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). It leads on capability. GPT-4.1 mini wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

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

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen3.5 Plus costs $0.40 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 $0.90 for Qwen3.5 Plus (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.5 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 (#65 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (144.6–148.1 vs 131.2–136.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 Plus 84.9%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.5 Plus 86.7%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.5 Plus 25.4%, GPT-4.1 mini 12.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini and Qwen3.5 Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.5 Plus 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 1,000,000 for Qwen3.5 Plus. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3.5 Plus up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

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

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-4.1 mini and Qwen3.5 Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 Plus is the newest, released Feb 16, 2026. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Qwen3.5 Plus 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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