Qwen3.5 Flash vs GPT-5.4 nano
Qwen3.5 Flash comes out ahead, 75 to 68 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
- Our pick
Alibaba (Qwen)
Qwen3.5 Flash
75/100- ECI144.0
- Price$0.10 / $0.40
- Context1M
OpenAI
GPT-5.4 nano
68/100- ECI145.8
- Price$0.20 / $1.25
- Context400K
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Make it a three-way comparison.
Qwen3.5 Flash is our pick
Qwen3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against GPT-5.4 nano (68). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. GPT-5.4 nano wins on capability. 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 Flash 144.0
- Lowest priceQwen3.5 FlashQwen3.5 Flash $0.175 · GPT-5.4 nano $0.463 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextQwen3.5 FlashQwen3.5 Flash 1,000,000 · GPT-5.4 nano 400,000 tokens
- Widest inputsQwen3.5 FlashQwen3.5 Flash: Text, Images, Video · GPT-5.4 nano: Text, Images
- Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
| Measure | Weight | Qwen3.5 Flash | GPT-5.4 nano |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 71 | 73 |
| Price | 25% | 86 | 66 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 80 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 60 | 44 |
| Overall | 100% | 75/100 | 68/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | ||
|---|---|---|
| Capability | ||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 144.0 | 145.8 (best) |
| ECI rank | #82 of 148 | #75 of 148 (best) |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 82.3% (best) | 78.5% |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | 18.3% | 44.9% (best) |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 84.4% | 87.8% (best) |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | 20.3% (best) | 11.7% |
| Price per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.10 (best) | $0.20 |
| Output | $0.40 (best) | $1.25 |
| Cached input | $0.01 (best) | $0.02 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.175 (best) | $0.463 |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Official Alibaba API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | ||
| Context window | 1,000,000 tokens (best) | 400,000 tokens |
| Max output | 65,536 tokens | 128,000 tokens (best) |
| Inputs and features | ||
| Text | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No |
| Audio | No | No |
| Video | Yes | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high · xhigh |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | ||
| Weights | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | qwen3.5-flash | gpt-5.4-nano |
| API providers | 8 | 26 (best) |
| Released | Feb 23, 2026 | Mar 17, 2026 |
| Knowledge cutoff | — | Aug 31, 2025 |
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 Flash$1.80
GPT-5.4 nano$4.50
Which should you choose?
Which is better: Qwen3.5 Flash or GPT-5.4 nano?
Qwen3.5 Flash is the better all-round choice, scoring 75/100 against GPT-5.4 nano (68). It leads on price, inputs & features and context window. GPT-5.4 nano wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, Qwen3.5 Flash or GPT-5.4 nano?
Qwen3.5 Flash is cheaper at $0.10 input / $0.40 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). 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 $0.175 per million tokens for Qwen3.5 Flash versus $0.463 for GPT-5.4 nano (2.6× 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 Flash 144.0 (#82 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (143.2–147.7 vs 141.6–145.5), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 Flash 82.3%, GPT-5.4 nano 78.5%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 nano 44.9%, Qwen3.5 Flash 18.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — GPT-5.4 nano 87.8%, Qwen3.5 Flash 84.4%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.5 Flash 20.3%, GPT-5.4 nano 11.7%.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 Flash 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?
Qwen3.5 Flash has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.4 nano. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 Flash up to 65,536, GPT-5.4 nano up to 128,000 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
Qwen3.5 Flash accepts text, images and video; GPT-5.4 nano accepts text and images. Qwen3.5 Flash handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
No. Qwen3.5 Flash and GPT-5.4 nano are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.
Which is newer?
GPT-5.4 nano is the newest, released Mar 17, 2026. Qwen3.5 Flash 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.