ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.5 9B vs GPT-5.4 nano

Qwen3.5 9B comes out ahead, 72 to 68 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-5.4 nano

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    68/100
    • ECI145.8
    • Price$0.20 / $1.25
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.4 nano

  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-5.4 nano (68). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.4 nano wins on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.4 nanoCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 nano 145.8 · Qwen3.5 9B 139.5
  • Lowest priceQwen3.5 9BQwen3.5 9B $0.113 · GPT-5.4 nano $0.463 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 nanoGPT-5.4 nano 400,000 · Qwen3.5 9B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 9BQwen3.5 9B: Text, Images, Video · GPT-5.4 nano: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 9BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 9BGPT-5.4 nano
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%6573
Price25%9566
Inputs & features15%8070
Context window10%3744
Overall100%72/10068/100
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-5.4 nano specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 9BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5.4 nanoOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.5145.8 (best)
ECI rank#101 of 148#75 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions79.0% (best)78.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—44.9%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics61.7%87.8% (best)
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—11.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10 (best)$0.20
Output$0.15 (best)$1.25
Cached input—$0.02
Blended (3:1)$0.113 (best)$0.463
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 14 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gpt-5.4-nano
API providers1526 (best)
ReleasedFeb 23, 2026Mar 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoff—Aug 31, 2025
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-5.4 nano$4.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B or GPT-5.4 nano?

Qwen3.5 9B is the better all-round choice, scoring 72/100 against GPT-5.4 nano (68). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.4 nano wins on capability and context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5 9B or GPT-5.4 nano?

Qwen3.5 9B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). GPT-5.4 nano costs $0.20 input / $1.25 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 $0.463 for GPT-5.4 nano (4.1× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.4 nano scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 nano 145.8 (#75 of 148) and Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 (#101 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (143.2–147.7 vs 136.5–141.3), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 9B 79.0%, GPT-5.4 nano 78.5%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.4 nano 87.8%, Qwen3.5 9B 61.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B and GPT-5.4 nano yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.4 nano 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-5.4 nano has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.5 9B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B up to 65,536, GPT-5.4 nano up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 9B accepts text, images and video; GPT-5.4 nano accepts text and images. Qwen3.5 9B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 9B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 nano is proprietary.

Which is newer?

GPT-5.4 nano is the newest, released Mar 17, 2026. Qwen3.5 9B came out Feb 23, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 nano Aug 31, 2025.

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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