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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Oct 4, 2026

Qwen3.8 27B vs GPT-5.4 mini

Qwen3.8 27B comes out ahead, 67 to 63 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Our pick

    Alibaba (Qwen)

    Qwen3.8 27B

    Released Aug 14, 2026

    67/100
    • ECI149.4
    • Price$0.40 / $2.50
    • Context262K
    Full specs Remove Qwen3.8 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

Qwen3.8 27B is our pick

Qwen3.8 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.4 mini wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

  • CapabilityQwen3.8 27BCapabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 27B 149.4 · GPT-5.4 mini 148.8
  • Lowest priceQwen3.8 27BQwen3.8 27B $0.925 · GPT-5.4 mini $1.69 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextGPT-5.4 miniGPT-5.4 mini 400,000 · Qwen3.8 27B 262,144 tokens
  • Widest inputsQwen3.8 27BQwen3.8 27B: Text, Images, Video · GPT-5.4 mini: Text, Images
  • Self-hostingQwen3.8 27BPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightQwen3.8 27BGPT-5.4 mini
CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI)50%7777
Price25%5139
Inputs & features15%8070
Context window10%3744
Overall100%67/10063/100
02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

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

Qwen3.8 27B vs GPT-5.4 mini specifications side by side
SpecificationQwen3.8 27BAlibaba (Qwen)GPT-5.4 miniOpenAI
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)149.4 (best)148.8
ECI rank#53 of 148 (best)#56 of 148
GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions—86.9%
FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics—51.2%
OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics—88.9%
SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions—29.4%
Price per million tokens
Input$0.40 (best)$0.75
Output$2.50 (best)$4.50
Cached input—$0.075
Blended (3:1)$0.925 (best)$1.69
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 39 providersOfficial OpenAI API
Limits
Context window262,144 tokens400,000 tokens (best)
Max output32,768 tokens128,000 tokens (best)
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesYesYes
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoYesNo
ReasoningYesYeslow · medium · high · xhigh
Tool callingYesYes
Structured outputYesYes
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—gpt-5.4-mini
API providers41 (best)29
ReleasedAug 14, 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.

  • Qwen3.8 27B$9.00
  • GPT-5.4 mini$16.50
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Qwen3.8 27B or GPT-5.4 mini?

Qwen3.8 27B is the better all-round choice, scoring 67/100 against GPT-5.4 mini (63). It leads on price and inputs & features. GPT-5.4 mini wins on context window. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.

Which is cheaper, Qwen3.8 27B or GPT-5.4 mini?

Qwen3.8 27B is cheaper at $0.40 input / $2.50 output per million tokens (median across 39 API providers). 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 $0.925 per million tokens for Qwen3.8 27B versus $1.69 for GPT-5.4 mini (1.8× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

Qwen3.8 27B scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): Qwen3.8 27B 149.4 (#53 of 148) and GPT-5.4 mini 148.8 (#56 of 148). The confidence ranges of the top two overlap (147.5–151.6 vs 147.1–150.5), so treat the gap as small.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Qwen3.8 27B and GPT-5.4 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, Qwen3.8 27B 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 Qwen3.8 27B. Maximum output per response: Qwen3.8 27B up to 32,768, GPT-5.4 mini up to 128,000 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Qwen3.8 27B accepts text, images and video; GPT-5.4 mini accepts text and images. Qwen3.8 27B handles the widest range of inputs.

Are any of these open source?

Qwen3.8 27B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; GPT-5.4 mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Qwen3.8 27B is the newest, released Aug 14, 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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