ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.5 Plus vs GPT-4.1 mini

Qwen3.5 Plus comes out ahead, 66 to 60 on our weighted score, though GPT-4.1 mini is 22% cheaper per token.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.5 Plus

    Released Feb 16, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI146.8
    • Price$0.40 / $2.40
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.5 Plus

  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 Plus is our pick

Qwen3.5 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). It leads on capability. GPT-4.1 mini wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.5 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
  • Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · Qwen3.5 Plus $0.90 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · Qwen3.5 Plus 1,000,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsQwen3.5 Plus: Text, Images, Video · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.5 PlusGPT-4.1 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7459
Price25%5257
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6061
Overall100%66/10060/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.5 Plus vs GPT-4.1 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.5 PlusAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)146.8 (best)135.0
ECI rank#65 of 148 (best)#115 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions84.9% (best)65.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—6.7%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics86.7% (best)44.7%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions25.4% (best)12.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40$0.40
Output$2.40$1.60 (best)
Cached input—$0.10
Blended (3:1)$0.90$0.70 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 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 outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3.5-plusgpt-4.1-mini
API providers1024 (best)
ReleasedFeb 16, 2026Apr 14, 2025
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Apr 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 Plus$8.80
  • GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

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

Qwen3.5 Plus is the better all-round choice, scoring 66/100 against GPT-4.1 mini (60). It leads on capability. GPT-4.1 mini wins on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

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

GPT-4.1 mini is cheaper at $0.40 input / $1.60 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen3.5 Plus costs $0.40 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 $0.70 per million tokens for GPT-4.1 mini versus $0.90 for Qwen3.5 Plus (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.5 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.5 Plus 146.8 (#65 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (144.6–148.1 vs 131.2–136.6), so the gap is a real one. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.5 Plus 84.9%, GPT-4.1 mini 65.9%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.5 Plus 86.7%, GPT-4.1 mini 44.7%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.5 Plus 25.4%, GPT-4.1 mini 12.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.5 Plus and GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.5 Plus 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 1,000,000 for Qwen3.5 Plus. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.5 Plus up to 65,536, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.5 Plus 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?

No. Qwen3.5 Plus and GPT-4.1 mini are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.5 Plus is the newest, released Feb 16, 2026. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.5 Plus Apr 2025, 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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