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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs GPT-4o mini

GPT-4o mini comes out ahead, 56 to 40 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen2.5 72B Instruct

    Released Sep 19, 2024

    40/100
    • ECI129.0
    • Price$1.40 / $5.60
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen2.5 72B Instruct
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-4o mini

    Released Jul 18, 2024

    56/100
    • ECI126.6
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o mini

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4o mini is our pick

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (40). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen2.5 72B InstructCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 129.0 · GPT-4o mini 126.6
  • Lowest priceGPT-4o miniGPT-4o mini $0.263 · Qwen2.5 72B Instruct $2.45 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen2.5 72B Instruct 131,072 · GPT-4o mini 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4o miniQwen2.5 72B Instruct: Text · GPT-4o mini: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen2.5 72B InstructGPT-4o mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5249
Price25%3177
Inputs & features15%2570
Context window10%2424
Overall100%40/10056/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs GPT-4o mini specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-4o miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.0 (best)126.6
ECI rank#128 of 148 (best)#135 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions49.2% (best)37.7%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—0.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics8.1% (best)6.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—8.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.40$0.15 (best)
Output$5.60$0.60 (best)
Cached input—$0.075
Blended (3:1)$2.45$0.263 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)128,000 tokens
Max output8,192 tokens16,384 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen2-5-72b-instructgpt-4o-mini
API providers121 (best)
ReleasedSep 19, 2024Jul 18, 2024
Knowledge cutoffApr 2024Sep 2023
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.

  • Qwen2.5 72B Instruct$25.20
  • GPT-4o mini$2.70
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or GPT-4o mini?

GPT-4o mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 56/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (40). It leads on price and inputs & features. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct or GPT-4o mini?

GPT-4o mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen2.5 72B Instruct costs $1.40 input / $5.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.263 per million tokens for GPT-4o mini versus $2.45 for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (9.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 129.0 (#128 of 148) and GPT-4o mini 126.6 (#135 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (123.8–130.7 vs 120.5–128.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 49.2%, GPT-4o mini 37.7%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 8.1%, GPT-4o mini 6.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and GPT-4o mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 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?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 128,000 for GPT-4o mini. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct up to 8,192, GPT-4o mini up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct accepts text; GPT-4o mini accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4o mini handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4o mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 19, 2024. GPT-4o mini came out Jul 18, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct Apr 2024, GPT-4o mini Sep 2023.

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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