ZMIME
Comparison · 3 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.5 9B vs GPT OSS 120B vs GPT-5 Nano

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.5 9B 72, GPT-5 Nano 70, GPT OSS 120B 61). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. 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 OSS 120B

    Released Aug 5, 2025

    61/100
    • ECI140.0
    • Price$0.15 / $0.60
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove GPT OSS 120B

  3. OpenAI

    GPT-5 Nano

    Released Aug 7, 2025

    70/100
    • ECI139.4
    • Price$0.05 / $0.40
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5 Nano
01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.5 9B 72/100, GPT-5 Nano 70/100, GPT OSS 120B 61/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT OSS 120B for raw capability, Qwen3.5 9B on price and GPT-5 Nano for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT OSS 120BCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT OSS 120B 140.0 · Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 · GPT-5 Nano 139.4
  • Lowest priceQwen3.5 9BQwen3.5 9B $0.113 · GPT-5 Nano $0.138 · GPT OSS 120B $0.263 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5 NanoGPT-5 Nano 400,000 · Qwen3.5 9B 262,144 · GPT OSS 120B 131,072 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.5 9BQwen3.5 9B: Text, Images, Video · GPT OSS 120B: Text · GPT-5 Nano: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3.5 9B and GPT OSS 120BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 9BGPT OSS 120BGPT-5 Nano
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%656565
Price25%957791
Inputs & features15%804570
Context window10%372444
Overall100%72/10061/10070/100
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 OSS 120B vs GPT-5 Nano specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 9BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT OSS 120BOpenAIGPT-5 NanoOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)139.5140.0 (best)139.4
ECI rank#101 of 148#99 of 148 (best)#102 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions79.0% (best)75.8%69.4%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics——20.0%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics61.7%88.9% (best)81.1%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions——11.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.10$0.15$0.05 (best)
Output$0.15 (best)$0.60$0.40
Cached input——$0.005
Blended (3:1)$0.113 (best)$0.263$0.138
Long-context rateSame rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 14 providersMedian of 36 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens131,072 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens32,768 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYesYes
ImagesYesNoYes
PDFsNoNoNo
AudioNoNoNo
VideoYesNoNo
ReasoningYesYesYesminimal · low · medium · high
Tool callingYesYesYes
Structured outputYesYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenOpenProprietary
API model ID——gpt-5-nano
API providers1539 (best)21
ReleasedFeb 23, 2026Aug 5, 2025Aug 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 9B$1.30
  • GPT OSS 120B$2.70
  • GPT-5 Nano$1.30
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.5 9B, GPT OSS 120B or GPT-5 Nano?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.5 9B 72/100, GPT-5 Nano 70/100, GPT OSS 120B 61/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT OSS 120B for raw capability, Qwen3.5 9B on price and GPT-5 Nano for long inputs. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5 9B, GPT OSS 120B or GPT-5 Nano?

Qwen3.5 9B is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (median across 14 API providers). GPT-5 Nano costs $0.05 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price); GPT OSS 120B costs $0.15 input / $0.60 output per million tokens (median across 36 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.113 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 9B versus $0.138 for GPT-5 Nano (1.2× as much) and $0.263 for GPT OSS 120B (2.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT OSS 120B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT OSS 120B 140.0 (#99 of 148), Qwen3.5 9B 139.5 (#101 of 148) and GPT-5 Nano 139.4 (#102 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (135.3–142.3 vs 136.5–141.3), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 9B 79.0%, GPT OSS 120B 75.8%, GPT-5 Nano 69.4%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT OSS 120B 88.9%, GPT-5 Nano 81.1%, Qwen3.5 9B 61.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 9B, GPT OSS 120B and GPT-5 Nano yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT OSS 120B leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three 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 9B and 131,072 for GPT OSS 120B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 9B up to 65,536, GPT OSS 120B up to 32,768, GPT-5 Nano up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 9B accepts text, images and video; GPT OSS 120B accepts text; GPT-5 Nano accepts text and images. Qwen3.5 9B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.5 9B and GPT OSS 120B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5 Nano is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 9B is the newest, released Feb 23, 2026. GPT-5 Nano came out Aug 7, 2025; GPT OSS 120B came out Aug 5, 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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