ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

GPT-5.4 mini vs Qwen3.6 Max Preview vs Grok 4.3

Grok 4.3 comes out ahead, 67 to 63 and 54 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. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Max Preview

    Released Apr 20, 2026

    54/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.30 / $7.80
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Max Preview
  3. Our pick

    xAI

    Grok 4.3

    Released Apr 17, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI149.2
    • Price$1.25 / $2.50
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Grok 4.3
01 — Verdict

Grok 4.3 is our pick

Grok 4.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.6 Max PreviewCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 · Grok 4.3 149.2 · GPT-5.4 mini 148.8
  • Lowest priceGrok 4.3Grok 4.3 $1.56 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview $2.92 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGrok 4.3Grok 4.3 1,000,000 · GPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · Qwen3.6 Max Preview 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsGrok 4.3GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images · Qwen3.6 Max Preview: Text · Grok 4.3: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsAll three are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5.4 miniQwen3.6 Max PreviewGrok 4.3
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%777777
Price25%392841
Inputs & features15%703580
Context window10%443760
Overall100%63/10054/10067/100
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 Max Preview vs Grok 4.3 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5.4 miniOpenAIQwen3.6 Max PreviewAlibaba (Qwen)Grok 4.3xAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)148.8149.2 (best)149.2
ECI rank#56 of 148#54 of 148 (best)#55 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions86.9%87.4%88.8% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics51.2% (best)—42.8%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics88.9%91.1%93.3% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—76.7%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions29.4%52.0% (best)33.2%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.75 (best)$1.30$1.25
Output$4.50$7.80$2.50 (best)
Cached input$0.075 (best)$0.13$0.20
Blended (3:1)$1.69$2.92$1.56 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateOver 200K: $2.50 / $5.00
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial xAI API
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens262,144 tokens1,000,000 tokens (best)
Max output128,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens30,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoYes
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYeslow · medium · high · xhighYesYeslow · medium · high
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietaryProprietary
API model IDgpt-5.4-miniqwen3.6-max-previewgrok-4.3
API providers29 (best)1027
ReleasedMar 17, 2026Apr 20, 2026Apr 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoffAug 31, 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-5.4 mini$16.50
  • Qwen3.6 Max Preview$28.60
  • Grok 4.3$17.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5.4 mini, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Grok 4.3?

Grok 4.3 is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63) and Qwen3.6 Max Preview (54). It leads on inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5.4 mini, Qwen3.6 Max Preview or Grok 4.3?

Grok 4.3 is cheaper at $1.25 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (official xAI API price). GPT-5.4 mini costs $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); Qwen3.6 Max Preview costs $1.30 input / $7.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.56 per million tokens for Grok 4.3 versus $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (1.1× as much) and $2.92 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview (1.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Max Preview 149.2 (#54 of 148), Grok 4.3 149.2 (#55 of 148) and GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.6–152.0 vs 147.6–150.8), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Grok 4.3 88.8%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 87.4%, GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Grok 4.3 93.3%, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 91.1%, GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Max Preview 52.0%, Grok 4.3 33.2%, GPT-5.4 mini 29.4%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 mini and Grok 4.3 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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?

Grok 4.3 has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.4 mini and 262,144 for Qwen3.6 Max Preview. Maximum output per response: GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000, Qwen3.6 Max Preview up to 65,536, Grok 4.3 up to 30,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images; Qwen3.6 Max Preview accepts text; Grok 4.3 accepts text, images and PDFs. Grok 4.3 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. GPT-5.4 mini, Qwen3.6 Max Preview and Grok 4.3 are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Max Preview is the newest, released Apr 20, 2026. Grok 4.3 came out Apr 17, 2026; GPT-5.4 mini came out Mar 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 mini Aug 31, 2025, Qwen3.6 Max Preview 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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