ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.5 9B vs GPT-4.1 mini

Qwen3.5 9B comes out ahead, 72 to 60 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 9B

    Released Feb 23, 2026

    72/100
    • ECI139.5
    • Price$0.10 / $0.15
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 9B

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-4.1 mini

    Released Apr 14, 2025

    60/100
    • ECI135.0
    • Price$0.40 / $1.60
    • Context1.05M
    Full specs Remove GPT-4.1 mini

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Qwen3.5 9B is our pick

Qwen3.5 9B is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. GPT-4.1 mini wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.5 9BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceQwen3.5 9BQwen3.5 9B $0.113 · GPT-4.1 mini $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3.5 9B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3.5 9B: Text, Images, Video · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 9BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 9BGPT-4.1 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6559
Price25%9557
Inputs & features15%8070
Context window10%3761
Overall100%72/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.5 9B vs GPT-4.1 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 9BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.5 (best)135.0
ECI rank#101 of 148 (best)#115 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions79.0% (best)65.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—6.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics61.7% (best)44.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—12.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.40
Output$0.15 (best)$1.60
Cached input—$0.10
Blended (3:1)$0.113 (best)$0.70
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 14 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens1,047,576 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoYes
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesNo
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gpt-4.1-mini
API providers1524 (best)
ReleasedFeb 23, 2026Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoff—Apr 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 9B$1.30
  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B or GPT-4.1 mini?

Qwen3.5 9B is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). It leads on capability, price and inputs & features. GPT-4.1 mini wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5 9B or GPT-4.1 mini?

Qwen3.5 9B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). GPT-4.1 mini costs $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.113 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 9B versus $0.70 for GPT-4.1 mini (6.2× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.5 9B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 (#101 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (136.5–141.3 vs 131.2–136.6), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 9B 79.0%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.5 9B 61.7%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B and GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.5 9B 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 mini has the largest context window at 1,047,576 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 9B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B up to 65,536, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 9B accepts text, images and video; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 9B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 9B is the newest, released Feb 23, 2026. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-4.1 mini 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

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