ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs QwQ 32B

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 62 to 43 and 41 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    62/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct

    Released Apr 2025

    41/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.45 / $2.25
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    QwQ 32B

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    43/100
    • ECI137.6
    • Price$0.66 / $1.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove QwQ 32B
01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 mini is our pick

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against QwQ 32B (43) and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (41). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · QwQ 32B $0.745 · Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct 262,144 · QwQ 32B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct: Text · QwQ 32B: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and QwQ 32BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructQwQ 32B
Price50%575256
Inputs & features30%702535
Context window20%613724
Overall100%62/10041/10043/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct vs QwQ 32B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIQwen3-Coder 30B-A3B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0—137.6 (best)
ECI rank#115 of 148—#109 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9% (best)—65.3%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7%—59.2% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.45$0.66
Output$1.60$2.25$1.00 (best)
Cached input$0.10——
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$0.90$0.745
Long-context rateSame rateOver 32K: $0.75 / $3.75Same rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)262,144 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens65,536 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoNoYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1-miniqwen3-coder-30b-a3b-instruct—
API providers24 (best)131
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Apr 2025Mar 5, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Apr 2025Apr 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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct$9.00
  • QwQ 32B$8.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct or QwQ 32B?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 62/100 against QwQ 32B (43) and Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (41). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct or QwQ 32B?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $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); Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct costs $0.45 input / $2.25 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 $0.745 for QwQ 32B (1.1× as much) and $0.90 for Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. GPT-4.1 mini has an ECI of 135.0, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct has not been scored yet and QwQ 32B has an ECI of 137.6.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and QwQ 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three 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-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and 131,072 for QwQ 32B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct up to 65,536, QwQ 32B up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct accepts text; QwQ 32B accepts text. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct and QwQ 32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-4.1 mini is the newest, released Apr 14, 2025. Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct came out Apr 2025; QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, Qwen3-Coder 30B-A3B Instruct Apr 2025, QwQ 32B 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

Related comparisons