ZMIME
Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.6 Plus vs GPT-5.4 nano

Too close to call on our weighted score (GPT-5.4 nano 68, Qwen3.6 Plus 66). The right pick depends on what you value most.

  1. Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.6 Plus

    Released Apr 2, 2026

    66/100
    • ECI147.6
    • Price$0.50 / $3.00
    • Context1M
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.6 Plus

  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

Too close to call

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-5.4 nano 68/100, Qwen3.6 Plus 66/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.6 Plus for raw capability and GPT-5.4 nano on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.6 PlusCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Plus 147.6 · GPT-5.4 nano 145.8
  • Lowest priceGPT-5.4 nanoGPT-5.4 nano $0.463 · Qwen3.6 Plus $1.13 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus 1,000,000 · GPT-5.4 nano 400,000 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.6 PlusQwen3.6 Plus: Text, Images, Video · GPT-5.4 nano: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingNo open weightsBoth are available only through APIs
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.6 PlusGPT-5.4 nano
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7573
Price25%4766
Inputs & features15%7070
Context window10%6044
Overall100%66/10068/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.6 Plus vs GPT-5.4 nano specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.6 PlusAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5.4 nanoOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)147.6 (best)145.8
ECI rank#59 of 148 (best)#75 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions88.4% (best)78.5%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics38.3%44.9% (best)
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics93.3% (best)87.8%
SWE-bench VerifiedFixing real GitHub issues57.9%—
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions44.1% (best)11.7%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.50$0.20 (best)
Output$3.00$1.25 (best)
Cached input$0.05$0.02 (best)
Blended (3:1)$1.13$0.463 (best)
Long-context rateOver 256K: $2.00 / $6.00Same rate
Price sourceOfficial Alibaba APIOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window1,000,000 tokens (best)400,000 tokens
Max output65,536 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputNoYes
Availability
WeightsProprietaryProprietary
API model IDqwen3.6-plusgpt-5.4-nano
API providers1826 (best)
ReleasedApr 2, 2026Mar 17, 2026
Knowledge cutoffApr 2025Aug 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 Plus$11.00
  • GPT-5.4 nano$4.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.6 Plus or GPT-5.4 nano?

It is close. Our weighted score puts them within 2 points (GPT-5.4 nano 68/100, Qwen3.6 Plus 66/100), so choose by what matters most for your work: Qwen3.6 Plus for raw capability and GPT-5.4 nano on price. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.6 Plus or GPT-5.4 nano?

GPT-5.4 nano is cheaper at $0.20 input / $1.25 output per million tokens (official OpenAI API price). Qwen3.6 Plus costs $0.50 input / $3.00 output per million tokens (official Alibaba API price). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.463 per million tokens for GPT-5.4 nano versus $1.13 for Qwen3.6 Plus (2.4× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.6 Plus scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.6 Plus 147.6 (#59 of 148) and GPT-5.4 nano 145.8 (#75 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (145.4–149.3 vs 143.2–147.7), so treat the gap as small. On individual benchmarks: GPQA Diamond — Qwen3.6 Plus 88.4%, GPT-5.4 nano 78.5%; FrontierMath Tiers 1–3 — GPT-5.4 nano 44.9%, Qwen3.6 Plus 38.3%; OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025 — Qwen3.6 Plus 93.3%, GPT-5.4 nano 87.8%; SimpleQA Verified — Qwen3.6 Plus 44.1%, GPT-5.4 nano 11.7%.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for GPT-5.4 nano yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.6 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?

Qwen3.6 Plus has the largest context window at 1,000,000 tokens, against 400,000 for GPT-5.4 nano. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.6 Plus up to 65,536, GPT-5.4 nano up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.6 Plus accepts text, images and video; GPT-5.4 nano accepts text and images. Qwen3.6 Plus handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

No. Qwen3.6 Plus and GPT-5.4 nano are proprietary and only available through APIs and apps.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.6 Plus is the newest, released Apr 2, 2026. GPT-5.4 nano came out Mar 17, 2026. Knowledge cutoff: Qwen3.6 Plus Apr 2025, 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

Related comparisons