ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

GPT-5 Mini vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507

GPT-5 Mini comes out ahead, 64 to 55 and 53 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5 Mini

    Released Aug 7, 2025

    64/100
    • ECI145.4
    • Price$0.25 / $2.00
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5 Mini

  2. DeepSeek

    DeepSeek R1 0528

    Released May 28, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI141.2
    • Price$0.512 / $2.19
    • Context164K
    Full specs Remove DeepSeek R1 0528

  3. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507

    Released Jul 25, 2025

    55/100
    • ECI143.8
    • Price$0.30 / $2.90
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507
01 — Verdict

GPT-5 Mini is our pick

GPT-5 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 (55) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (53). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5 MiniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5 Mini 145.4 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 143.8 · DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2
  • Lowest priceGPT-5 MiniGPT-5 Mini $0.688 · DeepSeek R1 0528 $0.932 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 $0.95 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5 MiniGPT-5 Mini 400,000 · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 262,144 · DeepSeek R1 0528 163,840 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-5 MiniGPT-5 Mini: Text, Images · DeepSeek R1 0528: Text · Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507: Text
  • Self-hostingDeepSeek R1 0528 and Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507Publishes downloadable weights (MIT and Apache 2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightGPT-5 MiniDeepSeek R1 0528Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%716669
Price25%554949
Inputs & features15%703535
Context window10%442837
Overall100%64/10053/10055/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

GPT-5 Mini vs DeepSeek R1 0528 vs Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 specifications side by side
SpecificationGPT-5 MiniOpenAIDeepSeek R1 0528DeepSeekQwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507Alibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)145.4 (best)141.2143.8
ECI rank#87 of 165 (best)#108 of 165#93 of 165
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions75.0%76.3%80.1% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics46.7%——
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics86.7% (best)66.4%86.7% (best)
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues64.7%——
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions21.6%—40.4% (best)
Price per million tokens
Input$0.25 (best)$0.512$0.30
Output$2.00 (best)$2.19$2.90
Cached input$0.025——
Blended (3:1)$0.688 (best)$0.932$0.95
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial OpenAI APIMedian of 16 providersMedian of 11 providers
Limits
Context window400,000 tokens (best)163,840 tokens262,144 tokens
Max output128,000 tokens (best)32,768 tokens81,920 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesminimal · low · medium · highYesYes
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenMITOpenApache 2.0
API model IDgpt-5-mini——
API providers35 (best)1612
ReleasedAug 7, 2025May 28, 2025Jul 25, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 30, 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-5 Mini$6.50
  • DeepSeek R1 0528$9.50
  • Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507$8.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: GPT-5 Mini, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507?

GPT-5 Mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 64/100 against Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 (55) and DeepSeek R1 0528 (53). It leads on capability, price, inputs & features and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, GPT-5 Mini, DeepSeek R1 0528 or Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507?

GPT-5 Mini is cheaper at $0.25 input / $2.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). DeepSeek R1 0528 costs $0.512 input / $2.19 output per million tokens (median across 16 API providers); Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 costs $0.30 input / $2.90 output per million tokens (median across 11 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.688 per million tokens for GPT-5 Mini versus $0.932 for DeepSeek R1 0528 (1.4× as much) and $0.95 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 (1.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5 Mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5 Mini 145.4 (#87 of 165), Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 143.8 (#93 of 165) and DeepSeek R1 0528 141.2 (#108 of 165). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (143.5–147.1 vs 141.9–145.2), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 80.1%, DeepSeek R1 0528 76.3%, GPT-5 Mini 75.0%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5 Mini 86.7%, Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 86.7%, DeepSeek R1 0528 66.4%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for DeepSeek R1 0528 and Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5 Mini 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-5 Mini has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 and 163,840 for DeepSeek R1 0528. Maximum output per response: GPT-5 Mini up to 128,000, DeepSeek R1 0528 up to 32,768, Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 up to 81,920 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

GPT-5 Mini accepts text and images; DeepSeek R1 0528 accepts text; Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 accepts text. GPT-5 Mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

DeepSeek R1 0528 and Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 publishes its weights (MIT and Apache 2.0) and can be self-hosted; GPT-5 Mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-5 Mini is the newest, released Aug 7, 2025. Qwen3 235B-A22B Thinking 2507 came out Jul 25, 2025; DeepSeek R1 0528 came out May 28, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5 Mini May 30, 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons