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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.6 27B vs GPT-5.4 mini

Too close to call on our weighted score (Qwen3.6 27B 65, GPT-5.4 mini 63). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 27B

    Released Apr 22, 2026

    65/100
    • ECI146.5
    • Price$0.60 / $3.60
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 27B

  2. OpenAI

    GPT-5.4 mini

    Released Mar 17, 2026

    63/100
    • ECI148.8
    • Price$0.75 / $4.50
    • Context400K
    Full specs Remove GPT-5.4 mini

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.6 27B 65/100, GPT-5.4 mini 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.4 mini for raw capability and Qwen3.6 27B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityGPT-5.4 miniCapabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 · Qwen3.6 27B 146.5
  • Lowest priceQwen3.6 27BQwen3.6 27B $1.35 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · Qwen3.6 27B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 27BQwen3.6 27B: Text, Images, Audio, Video · GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3.6 27BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.6 27BGPT-5.4 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7477
Price25%4439
Inputs & features15%9070
Context window10%3744
Overall100%65/10063/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.6 27B vs GPT-5.4 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.6 27BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5.4 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)146.5148.8 (best)
ECI rank#68 of 148#56 of 148 (best)
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions85.9%86.9% (best)
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics35.1%51.2% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics91.1% (best)88.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—29.4%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.60 (best)$0.75
Output$3.60 (best)$4.50
Cached input—$0.075
Blended (3:1)$1.35 (best)$1.69
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output65,536 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioYesNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model IDqwen3.6-27bgpt-5.4-mini
API providers2729 (best)
ReleasedApr 22, 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.

  • Qwen3.6 27B$13.20
  • GPT-5.4 mini$16.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.6 27B or GPT-5.4 mini?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (Qwen3.6 27B 65/100, GPT-5.4 mini 63/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: GPT-5.4 mini for raw capability and Qwen3.6 27B on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 27B or GPT-5.4 mini?

Qwen3.6 27B is cheaper at $0.60 input / $3.60 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). GPT-5.4 mini costs $0.75 input / $4.50 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $1.35 per million tokens for Qwen3.6 27B versus $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (1.3× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

GPT-5.4 mini scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148) and Qwen3.6 27B 146.5 (#68 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.1–150.5 vs 144.2–147.9), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — GPT-5.4 mini 86.9%, Qwen3.6 27B 85.9%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 mini 51.2%, Qwen3.6 27B 35.1%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 27B 91.1%, GPT-5.4 mini 88.9%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.6 27B and GPT-5.4 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, GPT-5.4 mini 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 mini has the largest context window at 400,000 tokens, against 262,144 for Qwen3.6 27B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 27B up to 65,536, GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.6 27B accepts text, images, audio and video; GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images. Qwen3.6 27B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.6 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 27B is the newest, released Apr 22, 2026. GPT-5.4 mini came out Mar 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: GPT-5.4 mini 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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