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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.4 mini vs Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B comes out ahead, 68 to 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  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. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

    Released Apr 17, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI143.9
    • Price$0.248 / $1.49
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 35B-A3B

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is our pick

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.4 mini wins on capability and context window. 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 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 35B-A3BQwen3.6 35B-A3B $0.557 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 35B-A3BGPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images · Qwen3.6 35B-A3B: Text, Images, Audio, Video
  • Self-hostingQwen3.6 35B-A3BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.4 miniQwen3.6 35B-A3B
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7770
Price25%3962
Inputs & features15%7090
Context window10%4437
Overall100%63/10068/100
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 Qwen3.6 35B-A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.4 miniOpenAIQwen3.6 35B-A3BAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)148.8 (best)143.9
ECI rank#56 of 148 (best)#83 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions86.9% (best)84.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics51.2% (best)20.4%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics88.9% (best)86.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions29.4%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75$0.248 (best)
Output$4.50$1.49 (best)
Cached input$0.075—
Blended (3:1)$1.69$0.557 (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-miniqwen3.6-35b-a3b
API providers2934 (best)
ReleasedMar 17, 2026Apr 17, 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
  • Qwen3.6 35B-A3B$5.45
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the better all-round choice, scoring 68/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.4 mini wins on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 mini or Qwen3.6 35B-A3B?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is cheaper at $0.248 input / $1.49 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 $0.557 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 35B-A3B versus $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (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 Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 143.9 (#83 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (147.1–150.5 vs 141.2–146.0), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 84.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 mini 51.2%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 20.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 86.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 mini and Qwen3.6 35B-A3B 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 Qwen3.6 35B-A3B. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000, Qwen3.6 35B-A3B up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images; Qwen3.6 35B-A3B accepts text, images, audio and video. Qwen3.6 35B-A3B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 35B-A3B is the newest, released Apr 17, 2026. GPT-5.4 mini came out Mar 17, 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

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