ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3 235B-A22B vs GPT-4.1

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-4.1 53, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3 235B-A22B

    Released Apr 28, 2025

    51/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.70 / $2.80
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3 235B-A22B

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    53/100
    • ECI136.8
    • Price$2.00 / $8.00
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1

  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 2 points (GPT-4.1 53/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 235B-A22B for raw capability and GPT-4.1 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3 235B-A22BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 · GPT-4.1 136.8
  • Lowest priceQwen3 235B-A22BQwen3 235B-A22B $1.23 · GPT-4.1 $3.50 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1GPT-4.1 1,047,576 · Qwen3 235B-A22B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsGPT-4.1Qwen3 235B-A22B: Text · GPT-4.1: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingQwen3 235B-A22BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3 235B-A22BGPT-4.1
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6561
Price25%4624
Inputs & features15%3570
Context window10%2461
Overall100%51/10053/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3 235B-A22B vs GPT-4.1 specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3 235B-A22BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-4.1OpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.4 (best)136.8
ECI rank#103 of 148 (best)#111 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions70.7% (best)66.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—6.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—38.3%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues—48.5%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—31.1%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70 (best)$2.00
Output$2.80 (best)$8.00
Cached input—$0.50
Blended (3:1)$1.23 (best)$3.50
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens1,047,576 tokens (best)
Max output16,384 tokens32,768 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3-235b-a22bgpt-4.1
API providers725 (best)
ReleasedApr 28, 2025Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 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.

  • Qwen3 235B-A22B$12.60
  • GPT-4.1$36.00
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3 235B-A22B or GPT-4.1?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-4.1 53/100, Qwen3 235B-A22B 51/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3 235B-A22B for raw capability and GPT-4.1 for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3 235B-A22B or GPT-4.1?

Qwen3 235B-A22B is cheaper at $0.70 input / $2.80 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-4.1 costs $2.00 input / $8.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.23 per million tokens for Qwen3 235B-A22B versus $3.50 for GPT-4.1 (2.9× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3 235B-A22B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3 235B-A22B 139.4 (#103 of 148) and GPT-4.1 136.8 (#111 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (135.2–140.8 vs 133.6–138.4), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3 235B-A22B 70.7%, GPT-4.1 66.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3 235B-A22B yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3 235B-A22B 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?

GPT-4.1 has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 131,072 for Qwen3 235B-A22B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3 235B-A22B up to 16,384, GPT-4.1 up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3 235B-A22B accepts text; GPT-4.1 accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4.1 handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3 235B-A22B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3 235B-A22B is the newest, released Apr 28, 2025. GPT-4.1 came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3 235B-A22B Apr 2025, GPT-4.1 Apr 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 Oct 4, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

Related comparisons