QwQ 32B vs o3-pro vs GPT-4.1 mini
GPT-4.1 mini comes out ahead, 60 to 53 and 51 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.
Alibaba (Qwen)QwQ 32B
53/100- ECI137.6
- Price$0.66 / $1.00
- Context131K
OpenAIo3-pro
51/100- ECI147.4
- Price$20.00 / $80.00
- Context200K
- Our pickOpenAI
GPT-4.1 mini
60/100- ECI135.0
- Price$0.40 / $1.60
- Context1.05M
GPT-4.1 mini is our pick
GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against QwQ 32B (53) and o3-pro (51). It leads on context window. o3-pro wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
- Capabilityo3-proCapabilities Index (ECI): o3-pro 147.4 · QwQ 32B 137.6 · GPT-4.1 mini 135.0
- Lowest priceGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini $0.70 · QwQ 32B $0.745 · o3-pro $35.00 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
- Longest contextGPT-4.1 miniGPT-4.1 mini 1,047,576 · o3-pro 200,000 · QwQ 32B 131,072 tokens
- Widest inputsGPT-4.1 miniQwQ 32B: Text · o3-pro: Text, Images · GPT-4.1 mini: Text, Images, PDFs
- Self-hostingQwQ 32BPublishes downloadable weights
| Measure | Weight | QwQ 32B | o3-pro | GPT-4.1 mini |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CapabilityCapabilities Index (ECI) | 50% | 62 | 75 | 59 |
| Price | 25% | 56 | 0 | 57 |
| Inputs & features | 15% | 35 | 70 | 70 |
| Context window | 10% | 24 | 32 | 61 |
| Overall | 100% | 53/100 | 51/100 | 60/100 |
Every spec in one table
Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.
| Specification | QwQ 32BAlibaba (Qwen) | o3-proOpenAI | GPT-4.1 miniOpenAI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Capability | |||
| Capabilities Index (ECI) | 137.6 | 147.4 (best) | 135.0 |
| ECI rank | #109 of 148 | #60 of 148 (best) | #115 of 148 |
| GPQA DiamondGraduate-level science questions | 65.3% | — | 65.9% (best) |
| FrontierMath Tiers 1–3Research-level mathematics | — | — | 6.7% |
| OTIS Mock AIME 2024–2025Competition mathematics | 59.2% (best) | — | 44.7% |
| SimpleQA VerifiedShort factual questions | — | — | 12.7% |
| Price per million tokens | |||
| Input | $0.66 | $20.00 | $0.40 (best) |
| Output | $1.00 (best) | $80.00 | $1.60 |
| Cached input | — | — | $0.10 |
| Blended (3:1) | $0.745 | $35.00 | $0.70 (best) |
| Long-context rate | Same rate | Same rate | Same rate |
| Price source | Median of 1 providers | Official OpenAI API | Official OpenAI API |
| Limits | |||
| Context window | 131,072 tokens | 200,000 tokens | 1,047,576 tokens (best) |
| Max output | 8,192 tokens | 100,000 tokens (best) | 32,768 tokens |
| Inputs and features | |||
| Text | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images | No | Yes | Yes |
| PDFs | No | No | Yes |
| Audio | No | No | No |
| Video | No | No | No |
| Reasoning | Yes | Yeslow · medium · high | No |
| Tool calling | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Structured output | No | Yes | Yes |
| Availability | |||
| Weights | Open | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| API model ID | — | o3-pro | gpt-4.1-mini |
| API providers | 1 | 6 | 24 (best) |
| Released | Mar 5, 2025 | Jun 10, 2025 | Apr 14, 2025 |
| Knowledge cutoff | Apr 2024 | May 2024 | Apr 2024 |
What would a month cost?
Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.
- QwQ 32B$8.60
- o3-pro$360.00
- GPT-4.1 mini$7.20
Which should you choose?
Which is better: QwQ 32B, o3-pro or GPT-4.1 mini?
GPT-4.1 mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 60/100 against QwQ 32B (53) and o3-pro (51). It leads on context window. o3-pro wins on capability. The score weighs capability 50%, price 25%, inputs & features 15%, context window 10%.
Which is cheaper, QwQ 32B, o3-pro 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). QwQ 32B costs $0.66 input / $1.00 output per million tokens (median across 1 API provider); o3-pro costs $20.00 input / $80.00 output per million tokens (official OpenAI 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 $0.745 for QwQ 32B (1.1× as much) and $35.00 for o3-pro (50× as much).
Which scores higher on benchmarks?
o3-pro scores higher on the Capabilities Index (ECI): o3-pro 147.4 (#60 of 148), QwQ 32B 137.6 (#109 of 148) and GPT-4.1 mini 135.0 (#115 of 148). Their confidence ranges do not overlap (145.8–149.7 vs 133.1–141.7), so the gap is a real one.
Which is better for coding?
There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for QwQ 32B, o3-pro and GPT-4.1 mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. On overall capability, o3-pro leads, which tends to carry over to coding, but test on your own codebase. All three 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 200,000 for o3-pro and 131,072 for QwQ 32B. Maximum output per response: QwQ 32B up to 8,192, o3-pro up to 100,000, GPT-4.1 mini up to 32,768 tokens.
Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?
QwQ 32B accepts text; o3-pro accepts text and images; GPT-4.1 mini accepts text, images and PDFs. GPT-4.1 mini handles the widest range of inputs.
Are any of these open source?
QwQ 32B publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; o3-pro and GPT-4.1 mini is proprietary.
Which is newer?
o3-pro is the newest, released Jun 10, 2025. GPT-4.1 mini came out Apr 14, 2025; QwQ 32B came out Mar 5, 2025. Knowledge cutoff: QwQ 32B Apr 2024, o3-pro May 2024, 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.
