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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4.1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Qwen3 32B

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 53, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51, Qwen3 32B 51). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI136.8
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 32B

    Released Apr 29, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI138.5
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 32B
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-4.1 53/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100, Qwen3 32B 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 235B-A22B for raw capability and GPT-4.1 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 235B-A22BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 · Qwen3 32B 138.5 · GPT-4.1 136.8
  • Lowest priceQwen3 235B-A22B and Qwen3 32BQwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 · Qwen3 32B $1.23 · GPT-4.1 $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 1,047,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 · Qwen3 32B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1GPT-4.1: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · Qwen3 32B: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22B and Qwen3 32BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4.1Qwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 32B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%616564
Price25%244646
Inputs & features15%703535
Context window10%612424
Overall100%53/10051/10051/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

GPT-4.1 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B vs Qwen3 32B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4.1OpenAIQwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen)Qwen3 32BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)136.8139.4 (best)138.5
ECI rank#111 of 148#103 of 148 (best)#106 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions66.9%70.7% (best)65.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics6.0%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics38.3%—66.9% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues48.5%——
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions31.1%——
Price per million tokens
Input$2.00$0.70 (best)$0.70 (best)
Output$8.00$2.80 (best)$2.80 (best)
Cached input$0.50——
Blended (3:1)$3.50$1.23 (best)$1.23 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window1,047,576 tokens (best)131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)16,384 tokens16,384 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsYesNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningNoYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpen
API model IDgpt-4.1qwen3-235b-a22bqwen3-32b
API providers25 (best)714
ReleasedApr 14, 2025Apr 28, 2025Apr 29, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Apr 2025Apr 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$36.00
  • Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
  • Qwen3 32B$12.60
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4.1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Qwen3 32B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-4.1 53/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100, Qwen3 32B 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 235B-A22B for raw capability and GPT-4.1 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4.1, Qwen3 235B-A22B or Qwen3 32B?

Qwen3 235B-A22B is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). Qwen3 32B costs $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price); GPT-4.1 costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.23 per million tokens for Qwen3 235B-A22B versus $1.23 for Qwen3 32B (1× as much) and $3.50 for GPT-4.1 (2.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 235B-A22B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148), Qwen3 32B 138.5 (#106 of 148) and GPT-4.1 136.8 (#111 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (135.2–140.8 vs 135.1–140.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 235B-A22B 70.7%, GPT-4.1 66.9%, Qwen3 32B 65.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B and Qwen3 32B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 235B-A22B 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 has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 235B-A22B and 131,072 for Qwen3 32B. Maximum output per response: GPT-4.1 up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, Qwen3 32B up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4.1 accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; Qwen3 32B accepts text. GPT-4.1 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 235B-A22B and Qwen3 32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 32B is the newest, released Apr 29, 2025. Qwen3 235B-A22B came out Apr 28, 2025; GPT-4.1 came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 Apr 2024, Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, Qwen3 32B 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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