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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-4o mini vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

GPT-4o mini comes out ahead, 56 to 44 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    56/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    44/100
    • ECI118.5
    • Price$0.175 / $0.70
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen2.5 7B Instruct

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4o mini is our pick

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen2.5 7B Instruct (44). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-4o miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4o mini 126.6 · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 118.5
  • Lowest priceGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini $0.263 · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct $0.306 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5 7B InstructQwen2.5 7B Instruct 131,072 · GPT-4o mini 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs · Qwen2.5 7B Instruct: Text
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5 7B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-4o miniQwen2.5 7B Instruct
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%4938
Price25%7774
Inputs & features15%7025
Context window10%2424
Overall100%56/10044/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-4o mini vs Qwen2.5 7B Instruct specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-4o miniOpenAIQwen2.5 7B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)126.6 (best)118.5
ECI rank#135 of 148 (best)#141 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions37.7% (best)35.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics0.7%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics6.9% (best)2.5%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions8.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.15 (best)$0.175
Output$0.60 (best)$0.70
Cached input$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$0.263 (best)$0.306
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window128,000 tokens131,072 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens (best)8,192 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsYesNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-4o-miniqwen2-5-7b-instruct
API providers21 (best)1
ReleasedJul 18, 2024Sep 19, 2024
Knowledge cutoffSep 2023Apr 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-4o mini$2.70
  • Qwen2.5 7B Instruct$3.15
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-4o mini or Qwen2.5 7B Instruct?

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen2.5 7B Instruct (44). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-4o mini or Qwen2.5 7B Instruct?

GPT-4o mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen2.5 7B Instruct costs $0.175 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for GPT-4o mini versus $0.306 for Qwen2.5 7B Instruct (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-4o mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-4o mini 126.6 (#135 of 148) and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 118.5 (#141 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (120.5–128.5 vs 110.7–121.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-4o mini 37.7%, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 35.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-4o mini 6.9%, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 2.5%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-4o mini and Qwen2.5 7B Instruct yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-4o mini 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?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o mini. Maximum output per response: GPT-4o mini up to 16,384, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct up to 8,192 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs; Qwen2.5 7B Instruct accepts text. GPT-4o mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4o mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen2.5 7B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 19, 2024. GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4o mini Sep 2023, Qwen2.5 7B Instruct 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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