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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct vs GPT-4o

GPT-4o comes out ahead, 43 to 40 on our weighted score, though Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is 44% cheaper per token.

  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

    Released May 13, 2024

    43/100
    • ECI129.0
    • Price$2.50 / $10.00
    • Context128K
    Full specs Remove GPT-4o

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-4o is our pick

GPT-4o is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (40). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins on price. 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 129.0
  • Lowest priceQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen2.5 72B Instruct $2.45 · GPT-4o $4.38 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen2.5 72B InstructQwen2.5 72B Instruct 131,072 · GPT-4o 128,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4oQwen2.5 72B Instruct: Text · GPT-4o: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingQwen2.5 72B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen2.5 72B InstructGPT-4o
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%5252
Price25%3119
Inputs & features15%2570
Context window10%2424
Overall100%40/10043/100
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 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen2.5 72B InstructAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-4oOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)129.0 (best)129.0
ECI rank#128 of 148 (best)#129 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions49.2% (best)48.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics8.1% (best)6.3%
Price per million tokens
Input$1.40 (best)$2.50
Output$5.60 (best)$10.00
Cached input—$1.25
Blended (3:1)$2.45 (best)$4.38
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
API providers119 (best)
ReleasedSep 19, 2024May 13, 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$45.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

GPT-4o is the better all-round choice, scoring 43/100 against Qwen2.5 72B Instruct (40). It leads on inputs & features. Qwen2.5 72B Instruct wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

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

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is cheaper at $1.40 input / $5.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-4o costs $2.50 input / $10.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $2.45 per million tokens for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct versus $4.38 for GPT-4o (1.8× 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 129.0 (#129 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (123.8–130.7 vs 124.2–131.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 49.2%, GPT-4o 48.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen2.5 72B Instruct 8.1%, GPT-4o 6.3%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen2.5 72B Instruct and GPT-4o 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. Maximum output per response: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct up to 8,192, GPT-4o up to 16,384 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct accepts text; GPT-4o accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4o 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 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen2.5 72B Instruct is the newest, released Sep 19, 2024. GPT-4o came out May 13, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen2.5 72B Instruct Apr 2024, GPT-4o 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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