ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.4 mini vs Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 65, GPT-5.4 mini 63). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 mini

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    63/100
    • ECI148.8
    • Price$0.75 / $4.50
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.4 mini

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

    Released Feb 15, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI146.7
    • Price$0.60 / $3.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 397B-A17B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 65/100, GPT-5.4 mini 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.4 mini for raw capability and Qwen3.5 397B-A17B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.4 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 · Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 146.7
  • Lowest priceQwen3.5 397B-A17BQwen3.5 397B-A17B $1.35 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 397B-A17BGPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images · Qwen3.5 397B-A17B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 397B-A17BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.4 miniQwen3.5 397B-A17B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7774
Price25%3944
Inputs & features15%7090
Context window10%4437
Overall100%63/10065/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-5.4 mini vs Qwen3.5 397B-A17B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.4 miniOpenAIQwen3.5 397B-A17BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)148.8 (best)146.7
ECI rank#56 of 148 (best)#67 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions86.9% (best)86.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics51.2% (best)31.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics88.9%88.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions29.4%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75$0.60 (best)
Output$4.50$3.60 (best)
Cached input$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$1.69$1.35 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens (best)262,144 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoYes
VideoNoYes
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhighYes
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpen
API model IDgpt-5.4-miniqwen3.5-397b-a17b
API providers29 (best)23
ReleasedMar 17, 2026Feb 15, 2026
Knowledge cutoffAug 31, 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-5.4 mini$16.50
  • Qwen3.5 397B-A17B$13.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen3.5 397B-A17B?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 65/100, GPT-5.4 mini 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.4 mini for raw capability and Qwen3.5 397B-A17B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen3.5 397B-A17B?

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B is cheaper at $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.4 mini costs $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.35 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 397B-A17B versus $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.4 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148) and Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 146.7 (#67 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.1–150.5 vs 144.8–148.2), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%, Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 86.4%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 mini 51.2%, Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 31.2%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%, Qwen3.5 397B-A17B 88.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 mini and Qwen3.5 397B-A17B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.4 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?

GPT-5.4 mini has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 397B-A17B. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000, Qwen3.5 397B-A17B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images; Qwen3.5 397B-A17B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.5 397B-A17B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 397B-A17B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-5.4 mini is the newest, released Mar 17, 2026. Qwen3.5 397B-A17B came out Feb 15, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 mini Aug 31, 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

Related comparisons