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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

o4-mini-deep-research vs Qwen3 Coder Plus

Too close to call on our weighted score (o4-mini-deep-research 37, Qwen3 Coder Plus 37). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. OpenAI

    o4-mini-deep-research

    Released Jun 26, 2025

    37/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.80 / $7.20
    • Context200K
    Full specs Remove o4-mini-deep-research

  2. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 Coder Plus

    Released Jul 23, 2025Deprecated

    37/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$1.00 / $5.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 Coder Plus

  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 a point (o4-mini-deep-research 37/100, Qwen3 Coder Plus 37/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Coder Plus on price and Qwen3 Coder Plus for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest priceQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus $2.00 · o4-mini-deep-research $3.15 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3 Coder PlusQwen3 Coder Plus 1,048,576 · o4-mini-deep-research 200,000 tokens
  • Widest inputso4-mini-deep-researcho4-mini-deep-research: Text, Images · Qwen3 Coder Plus: Text
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeighto4-mini-deep-researchQwen3 Coder Plus
Price50%2534
Inputs & features30%6025
Context window20%3261
Overall100%37/10037/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

o4-mini-deep-research vs Qwen3 Coder Plus specifications side by side
Specificationo4-mini-deep-researchOpenAIQwen3 Coder PlusAlibaba (Qwen)
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$1.80$1.00 (best)
Output$7.20$5.00 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$3.15$2.00 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 1 providersOfficial Alibaba API
Limits
Context window200,000 tokens1,048,576 tokens (best)
Max output100,000 tokens (best)65,536 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model ID—qwen3-coder-plus
API providers15 (best)
ReleasedJun 26, 2025Jul 23, 2025
Knowledge cutoffMay 2024Apr 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.

  • o4-mini-deep-research$32.40
  • Qwen3 Coder Plus$20.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: o4-mini-deep-research or Qwen3 Coder Plus?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within a point (o4-mini-deep-research 37/100, Qwen3 Coder Plus 37/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 Coder Plus on price and Qwen3 Coder Plus for long inputs. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, o4-mini-deep-research or Qwen3 Coder Plus?

Qwen3 Coder Plus is cheaper at $1.00 input / $5.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). o4-mini-deep-research costs $1.80 input / $7.20 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.00 per million tokens for Qwen3 Coder Plus versus $3.15 for o4-mini-deep-research (1.6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. o4-mini-deep-research has not been scored yet and Qwen3 Coder Plus has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for o4-mini-deep-research and Qwen3 Coder Plus yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Both support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen3 Coder Plus has the largest context window at 1,048,576 tokens, against 200,000 for o4-mini-deep-research. Maximum output per response: o4-mini-deep-research up to 100,000, Qwen3 Coder Plus up to 65,536 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

o4-mini-deep-research accepts text and images; Qwen3 Coder Plus accepts text. o4-mini-deep-research handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. o4-mini-deep-research and Qwen3 Coder Plus are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 Coder Plus is the newest, released Jul 23, 2025. o4-mini-deep-research came out Jun 26, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: o4-mini-deep-research May 2024, Qwen3 Coder Plus 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 Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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