Qwen3.5-35B-A3B vs GPT-5 mini
Side-by-side comparison of API pricing, specs, benchmarks, and capabilities
| Specification |
by Alibaba
|
by OpenAI
|
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| Status | Current mid tier Open weights | Current mid tier |
| Released | Feb 25, 2026 | Aug 7, 2025 |
| Pricing per million tokens | ||
| Input | $0.250/Mtok | $0.250/Mtok |
| Output | $2.00/Mtok | $2.00/Mtok |
| Blended avg | $0.688/Mtok | $0.688/Mtok |
| Cached input | — | $0.025/Mtok |
| Price basis | Alibaba Model Studio International list price, single 0<Token≤256K tier, from the vendor's open-source Qwen table. Thinking-mode output is billed at the same rate as non-thinking. No context-cache or batch rate is printed for this SKU, so cached input is left unset rather than assumed. Gateway resellers quote lower routed rates ($0.225/$1.80). This SKU's row carries no discount label, so the standard list rate is the one tracked here — the same basis as every other Alibaba row on this site. | — |
| Specifications | ||
| Context window | 262K tokens | 400K tokens |
| Parameters | 35B (A3B) | Proprietary |
| Speed (TPS) | — | — |
| Modalities | ||
| Input |
text
|
textimage
|
| Benchmarks source: Artificial Analysis | ||
| Independent composite scores measured for both models — each on its own scale | ||
| AA-Omniscience Index (−100–100) | -48.1 | -17.3 |
| AA Intelligence Index | — | 25.8 |
| AA Agentic Index | — | 19.6 |
| LMSYS Chatbot Arena | 1395.3 ELO | — |
| Providers | ||
| Available from |
Alibaba — $0.250/$2.00/Mtok
|
OpenAI — $0.250/$2.00/Mtok
|
Cost at scale
1M tokens · 50/50 input/output| Volume | Qwen3.5-35B-A3B | GPT-5 mini | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1M tokens | $0.69 | $0.69 | $0 (0%) |
| 10M tokens | $6.88 | $6.88 | $0 (0%) |
| 100M tokens | $68.75 | $68.75 | $0 (0%) |
| 1000M tokens | $687.5 | $687.5 | $0 (0%) |
When to pick which
distilled from the pricing and spec data above
Pick Qwen3.5-35B-A3B if…
- you want open weights — self-host it, fine-tune it, or exit the API entirely; GPT-5 mini is closed
Pick GPT-5 mini if…
- your workload re-reads context (agents, RAG, long chats): cached input costs $0.025/Mtok — 90% off its list input price, a discount Qwen3.5-35B-A3B doesn't offer
- you need the longer context: 400K tokens vs 262K (1.5×)
Try Qwen3.5-35B-A3B on Alibaba
The cheaper option here — Qwen3.5-35B-A3B costs $0.688/Mtok blended on Alibaba.
Summary
Qwen3.5-35B-A3B by Alibaba costs $0.250/Mtok input and $2.00/Mtok output, with a 262K-token context window. It supports text input.
GPT-5 mini by OpenAI costs $0.250/Mtok input and $2.00/Mtok output, with a 400K-token context window. It supports text, image input.
Note: Pricing is per million tokens. Actual costs vary with usage patterns, prompt caching, and batch discounts. Always verify against official provider pricing pages.
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