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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.5 27B vs GPT-5 Nano

GPT-5 Nano comes out ahead, 75 to 61 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 27B

    Released Feb 23, 2026

    61/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.30 / $2.40
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 27B
  2. Our pick

    OpenAI

    GPT-5 Nano

    Released Aug 7, 2025

    75/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.05 / $0.40
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5 Nano

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

GPT-5 Nano is our pick

GPT-5 Nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Qwen3.5 27B (61). It leads on price and context window. Qwen3.5 27B wins on inputs & features. 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-5 NanoGPT-5 Nano $0.138 · Qwen3.5 27B $0.825 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5 NanoGPT-5 Nano 400,000 · Qwen3.5 27B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 27BQwen3.5 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video · GPT-5 Nano: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 27BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 27BGPT-5 Nano
Price50%5491
Inputs & features30%9070
Context window20%3744
Overall100%61/10075/100

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.

Qwen3.5 27B vs GPT-5 Nano specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 27BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5 NanoOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)—139.4
ECI rank—#102 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—69.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—20.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—81.1%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—11.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.30$0.05 (best)
Output$2.40$0.40 (best)
Cached input—$0.005
Blended (3:1)$0.825$0.138 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYesminimal · low · medium · high
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3.5-27bgpt-5-nano
API providers1621 (best)
ReleasedFeb 23, 2026Aug 7, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—May 30, 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.

  • Qwen3.5 27B$7.80
  • GPT-5 Nano$1.30
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 27B or GPT-5 Nano?

GPT-5 Nano is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against Qwen3.5 27B (61). It leads on price and context window. Qwen3.5 27B wins on inputs & features. 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, Qwen3.5 27B or GPT-5 Nano?

GPT-5 Nano is cheaper at $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen3.5 27B costs $0.30 input / $2.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.138 per million tokens for GPT-5 Nano versus $0.825 for Qwen3.5 27B (6× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Qwen3.5 27B has not been scored yet and GPT-5 Nano has an ECI of 139.4.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 27B and GPT-5 Nano 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?

GPT-5 Nano has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 27B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 27B up to 65,536, GPT-5 Nano up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 27B accepts text, images, audio and video; GPT-5 Nano accepts text and images. Qwen3.5 27B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5 Nano is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 27B is the newest, released Feb 23, 2026. GPT-5 Nano came out Aug 7, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5 Nano May 30, 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

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