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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 mini vs QwQ Plus vs Mistral Medium 3

GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 64 to 53 and 52 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    64/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    QwQ Plus

    Released Mar 5, 2025

    52/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.80 / $2.40
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove QwQ Plus

  3. Mistral AI

    Mistral Medium 3

    Released May 7, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI134.1
    • Price$0.40 / $2.00
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Mistral Medium 3
01 — Verdict

GPT-4.1 mini is our pick

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53) and QwQ Plus (52). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.

  • CapabilityGPT-4.1 miniShared benchmarks: GPT-4.1 mini 65.9% · QwQ Plus 65.4% · Mistral Medium 3 59.5%
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Mistral Medium 3 $0.80 · QwQ Plus $1.20 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · QwQ Plus 131,072 · Mistral Medium 3 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs · QwQ Plus: Text · Mistral Medium 3: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1 miniQwQ PlusMistral Medium 3
CapabilityShared benchmarks50%666560
Price25%574654
Inputs & features15%703550
Context window10%612424
Overall100%64/10052/10053/100
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 QwQ Plus vs Mistral Medium 3 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1 miniOpenAIQwQ PlusAlibaba (Qwen)Mistral Medium 3Mistral AI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)135.0 (best)—134.1
ECI rank#115 of 148 (best)—#117 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions65.9% (best)65.4%59.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics44.7% (best)—32.2%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions12.7%——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.80$0.40 (best)
Output$1.60 (best)$2.40$2.00
Cached input$0.10——
Blended (3:1)$0.70 (best)$1.20$0.80
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Mistral API
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens8,192 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-4.1-miniqwq-plusmistral-medium-2505
API providers24 (best)25
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Mar 5, 2025May 7, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Apr 2024May 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
  • QwQ Plus$12.80
  • Mistral Medium 3$8.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1 mini, QwQ Plus or Mistral Medium 3?

GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Mistral Medium 3 (53) and QwQ Plus (52). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%. Capability uses the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond), because QwQ Plus has no Capabilities Index score yet.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1 mini, QwQ Plus or Mistral Medium 3?

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Mistral Medium 3 costs $0.40 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official Mistral API price); QwQ Plus costs $0.80 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 $0.80 for Mistral Medium 3 (1.1× as much) and $1.20 for QwQ Plus (1.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Not every model here has a Capabilities Index score, so we compare the average of shared benchmarks (GPQA Diamond): GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, QwQ Plus 65.4% and Mistral Medium 3 59.5%. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%, QwQ Plus 65.4%, Mistral Medium 3 59.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4.1 mini, QwQ Plus and Mistral Medium 3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4.1 mini leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. 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 131,072 for QwQ Plus and 131,072 for Mistral Medium 3. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768, QwQ Plus up to 8,192, Mistral Medium 3 up to 131,072 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs; QwQ Plus accepts text; Mistral Medium 3 accepts text and images. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-4.1 mini, QwQ Plus and Mistral Medium 3 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Mistral Medium 3 is the newest, released May 7, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; QwQ Plus came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini Apr 2024, QwQ Plus Apr 2024, Mistral Medium 3 May 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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