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Comparison · 3 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Qwen Flash vs GPT OSS 20B vs ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B

Qwen Flash comes out ahead, 69 to 61 and 57 on our weighted score, though GPT OSS 20B is 16% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen Flash

    Released Jul 28, 2025

    69/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.05 / $0.40
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen Flash

  2. OpenAI

    GPT OSS 20B

    Released Aug 5, 2025

    61/100
    • ECI137.8
    • Price$0.07 / $0.25
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove GPT OSS 20B

  3. Baidu

    ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B

    Released Jun 30, 2025

    57/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.07 / $0.28
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
01 — Verdict

Qwen Flash is our pick

Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against GPT OSS 20B (61) and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (57). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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 priceGPT OSS 20BGPT OSS 20B $0.115 · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B $0.122 · Qwen Flash $0.138 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen FlashQwen Flash 1,000,000 · GPT OSS 20B 131,072 · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen Flash: Text · GPT OSS 20B: Text · ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B: Text
  • Self-hostingGPT OSS 20B and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3BPublishes downloadable weights (Apache-2.0)
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen FlashGPT OSS 20BERNIE 4.5 21B A3B
Price50%879089
Inputs & features30%453525
Context window20%602525
Overall100%69/10061/10057/100

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.

Qwen Flash vs GPT OSS 20B vs ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen FlashAlibaba (Qwen)GPT OSS 20BOpenAIERNIE 4.5 21B A3BBaidu
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—137.8—
ECI rank—#122 of 165—
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—60.8%—
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—65.3%—
Price per million tokens
Input$0.05 (best)$0.07$0.07
Output$0.40$0.25 (best)$0.28
Cached input$0.01——
Blended (3:1)$0.138$0.115 (best)$0.122
Long-context rateOver 256K: $0.25 / $2.00Same rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIMedian of 37 providersMedian of 1 providers
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)131,072 tokens131,072 tokens
Max output32,768 tokens (best)32,768 tokens (best)8,000 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesNoNoNo
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoNoNoNo
ReasoningYesYesNo
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesNoNo
Availability
WeightsProprietaryOpenOpenApache-2.0
API model IDqwen-flash——
API providers641 (best)1
ReleasedJul 28, 2025Aug 5, 2025Jun 30, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Jun 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.

  • Qwen Flash$1.30
  • GPT OSS 20B$1.20
  • ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B$1.26
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen Flash, GPT OSS 20B or ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B?

Qwen Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 69/100 against GPT OSS 20B (61) and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (57). It leads on inputs & features and context window. 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, Qwen Flash, GPT OSS 20B or ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B?

GPT OSS 20B is cheaper at $0.07 input / $0.25 output per million tokens (median across 37 API providers). ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B costs $0.07 input / $0.28 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); Qwen Flash costs $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.115 per million tokens for GPT OSS 20B versus $0.122 for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B (1.1× as much) and $0.138 for Qwen Flash (1.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers all three models yet. Qwen Flash has not been scored yet, GPT OSS 20B has an ECI of 137.8 and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen Flash, GPT OSS 20B and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. All three support tool calling for agent workflows.

Which has the bigger context window?

Qwen Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 131,072 for GPT OSS 20B and 131,072 for ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B. Maximum output per response: Qwen Flash up to 32,768, GPT OSS 20B up to 32,768, ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B up to 8,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen Flash accepts text; GPT OSS 20B accepts text; ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

GPT OSS 20B and ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B publishes its weights (Apache-2.0) and can be self-hosted; Qwen Flash is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT OSS 20B is the newest, released Aug 5, 2025. Qwen Flash came out Jul 28, 2025; ERNIE 4.5 21B A3B came out Jun 30, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen Flash Apr 2024, GPT OSS 20B Jun 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

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